[centre][color=9e0b0f]Faction Name[/color]: 
The Reformation of the Salished Dynasty

[color=9e0b0f]Alias[/color]:
Zoltur, the Ministry of Zoltur

[color=9e0b0f]Government Type[/color]: 
As befits a dynasty, members of a single family lead the Reformation. Two brothers and one sister hold control over all aspects, with each assuming responsibility for certain matters, such as military, administrative or religious, and possessing a comprehensive title: 'Minister'.  The siblings permit nobody else any functional control within the Reformation, due partially to a ubiquitous mistrust of others and a history of betrayals or misuses of power perpetrated by their previous confidants. Despite this isolated type of government, the siblings almost completely welcome outsiders into their jurisdiction, for the very nature of their nation is as a recreation of the former glory of the Salished Empire, with modern revisements - where members of any species or background could convene and live congenially within the walls and regulations of a strong presence. Entrants into the Reformation are greeted amiably and provided initial refreshment and shelter. They are offered to contribute by a plethora of ways to the survival and growth of the nation, to work and live under the watchful but welcoming eyes of the siblings and their militant employees. 

The Reformation, led by the Ministers, functions as an open society with a logical dubiousness of newcomers, that is kept alive and dwelled in by its populace.

[color=9e0b0f]Faction Specie(s)[/color]:
The Ministers are pure-blooded humans, having come from the Salished Empire, and belonging to its dominant species. However, any being capable of benefiting the Reformation in some way who does not possess ill intent or pose a threat to the lives of the masses is welcome.

[color=9e0b0f]Location[/color]: 
[img]http://i.imgur.com/YHNEpF3.png[/img]

Residing on the subtlest incline of the mountain appropriately nicknamed, 'The Isolated Mountain', stands Zoltur - the capital and sole city of the Reformation of the Salished Dynasty. It lies close to the coast, on the outer perimeter of the Rainlands, and within sight of the creeping fog-clouds of the Eastmarches. To the north-east stretches a largely uneventful plateau, though several mountains occupy the eastern edge of this land, and the looming walls of Tirak are visible in the far distance. To the west the coast embraces the land for as far as the eye can see, and a large forest stretches out suddenly a few hundred paces from Zoltur's walls. The sea begins soon to the south, and the waves and raging torrents, compounded by the all too frequent storms of the Rainlands, can often be heard even behind the thick walls of Zoltur's palace.

[color=9e0b0f]Faction Religion/Ideology[/color]: 
[Same as the Salished Empire] 

[color=9e0b0f]Faction Description / History[/color]: 
The Reformation of the Salished Dynasty was entirely derived from the shared concerns of the Ahsor Vok family, three siblings whom lived in Nyssos as part of the Salished Empire until the Year of the Setting Sun 8,003. The three often observed and discussed emerging and burgeoning problems within the city and the very Empire, such as the diminishing authority of the ruling Priest-Smiths under the Sashul, of which the eldest Ahsor Vok sibling was a member - one with enough tenure to have noticed distinctly a worrying gradual decline in his power and a rise in civil unrest. Yet, his governing cohorts ignored or avoided him whenever he attempted to illuminate to them the potential crises that could arise from a weak ruling body and a state of lawlessness bearing resemblance to the chaos of Oskamoore. 

The middle-aged sibling, a female Tyshaled Hamalvod - one of the militant orders under the Empire - was part of several expeditions to the Godsfang Mountains to the North, there finding ravenous groups of beastkin: wandering Shriekers and hordes of Gobblers included, appearing further and further south toward settled land. An aura of rejuvenation seemed to accompany the multiplying bands of dangerous enemies, and barbarians were just as present as ever, leaving the female Ahsor Vok sibling struggling through several difficult skirmishes with foes, even in areas where Ssalgad Tul still lay far to the north. An obvious threat was coming closer to becoming a disaster, but still the Priest-Smiths and the city-bound Tyshaled Hamalvod made no precautionary action.

It is important to note the pride of the Ahsor Vok family, both as prominent upholders of Salished honour and as descendants of a family integral to the settling of the Rainlands by the Saliszi forces centuries prior. The two older siblings possessing important roles in society, and the youngest sibling, just ten years old, already destined for a similar prominence after a blessed childhood and a devoted education in important subjects such as geography and crafting, outlined their obvious vast knowledge and respect for a functioning Empire. They were not without their devotees, either. The Priest-Smith in the family was at the head of a chain of command that covered the entirety of Nyssos, and while pursuing an administrative strategy disparate from the norm he had found competent figures of a like mind. The female in the family, though rarely acquiring a friend with similar social attributes, was widely respected as a knight and skilled fighter. Many whose lives she had saved or helped in the past lived within the same city walls and were constantly amiable to her cause of justice and prosperity. 

As such, when the Ahsor Vok family left Nyssos - on relatively amicable terms with the ignorant Priest-Smiths and the Tyshaled Hamalvod - hushed whispers of an open nation flowed through social currents and roused some of the poor and ailing, some of the intellectuals and some of the warriors alike. The Priest-Smith of the family had been the catalyst to the exodus, after watching pirates enter the capital city unchallenged, and seeing families murdered after trying to steal food only to feed themselves, and discovering fellow Priest-Smiths broken under the weight of their own responsibility. Nyssos was a dying city. As far as he knew, the Salished Empire was similarly decaying.

A band of over three-hundred travellers could be found far south of Nyssos months later, erecting stone foundations and gathering resources from any viable land surrounding them. The Tyshaled Hamalvod female trained capable men and women to hold weapons and defend their peers from various enemies - her own soulsteel sword constantly slicing through the air or on her person as she patrolled the new city's perimeters. The men of the family worked in tandem, forming and assigning jobs to the willing ex-Salished. They made sure that word did not spread too radically of the new nation that boasted so many similarities to the Salished Dynasties in their prime, for much of the Salished people were becoming belligerent with the declining control of the Priest-Smiths. That is not to say that small groups did not often strike out from a number of Salished cities and holdings with the intention of reaching Zoltur, but their awareness of the Reformation was in most cases limited to the promises of a regulated, prosperous society and an escape from dangerous areas now abandoned by any judicial presence.

Progressively, Zoltur's land stake grew, as did its populace, until the present - whereby it acts as a self-controlling city state with a quiet existence until the day when it is prominent enough to proceed diplomatically with neighbouring nations - to open trade routes and form truces - all with the intention of making the Reformation a glorious return to what once was, what minstrels sing of: the mighty Salished Dynasty that settled the Rainlands. Walking within the confines of Zoltur today, one might hear of the Ministers' intentions to begin work on a new city further to the north, or perhaps rumours of an envoy being sent to the Sashul in Nyssos. While these whisperings are just that, it is not so far from possibility that the Ahsor Vok siblings would pursue these tactics after an unarguably prosperous two decades of existence.

[hider=Important Characters] 
[b]Rhashul Ahsor Vok[/b]

At age forty-nine, Rhashul has experienced and learnt much in his life. Born into the respected Ahsor Vok family, the son of Priest-Smith Marr Ahsor Vok, who was also a writer and a scholar famous for his studies into self-sustenance and the various lands of Azoth, Rhashul was effectively guaranteed a position of influence in the city, and he wasn't expected - not even permitted, at times - to enter the slums bordering the canal-littered inner city, whereas most had scant little choice and were to spend most of their lives there. Rhashul's rigorous education, mainly made up of home-schooling and external tutors, and resulting appointment into the Priest-Smith doctrine was not a practise of nepotism, rather Marr Ahsor Vok was notoriously ardent in his religion and he saw his first son and daughter as beings of sanctity who deserved no less than blessed lives and unimpeded ambitions. Rhashul inherited much of Marr's mindset and spirituality, especially after his mother's death when he was twenty-one and his sister was sixteen. He was known to preach to his peers and to never lose sight of some internal goal of honour - the extent of which none aside from himself and his sister knew. He is moderately charitable and cares for his family above everything else, but past events have made him subconsciously dubious of others, and hesitant to delegate permissions outside of the family.


Rhashul has receding, straight black hair that is seldom matted or out of place. His eyebrows are thinning in the same way, as they are limited in width while his forehead is bereft of hair, often visibly gleaming on warm summer days. All three siblings share an incomprehensible dislike of sustained sunlight, for they burn easily and are somehow irritated by moderate light. Their skin is distinguishably pale, as a result, and has been known to become blotted with odd rashes on occasion. Rhashul is taller than the average man, slim, with legs dis-proportionally longer than his torso. He has thin arms, unpractised in most styles of combat, and long, slim fingers, moulded by decades of constant writing.


[b]Habruth Ahsor Vok[/b]

The second child of Marr Ahsor Vok, and five years junior to Rhashul, Habruth is the epitome of a knight, valuing justice and honour higher than anything else. These traits came about in her childhood, for she had never shown an interest in Marr's various teachings of geography and society, and in fact she was often resistant to attend lessons along with her brother. Furthermore, she did not resort to her mother's company as an alternative, because Marr's wife was not the most caring of people. In fact, though their father had never explicitly informed them, they had heard the ever reoccurring rumours that she had been attached to Marr in their adolescence, her viewing him as little more than a sexual object. Before she could learn of the immense piety and traditional values that Marr upheld, they were married and she was pregnant - thus affirming that the spoken bond they had made would never be broken, for Marr would forever only practise monogamy and she at least was provided a comfortable life, instead of the alternative of a poor (though probably racier) existence in or about the slums. 

Habruth, instead, sought refuge among the Tyshaled Hamalvod, whom accepted her as an apprentice from an early age. She was constantly quiet, watchful, and she didn't interfere when the soulsteel knights tended to serious matters. In return, they taught her techniques, many spoke to her of their own values, and before long she was one of their own. Marr was content enough to let his daughter spend a great deal of her free time among the Tyshaled Hamalvod, as performing the ancient rite that created a soulsteel sword for a worthy knight was one of his duties, and it was without question one of the highest honours that could be bestowed upon any warrior. Years passed, and Habruth of course became as skillful with ordinary weaponry as any of the Tyshaled Hamalvod. It was time for her to undertake the process of sacrificing her soul to her weapon for herself.


Habruth shares the jet black hair of every member of her immediate family, but unlike her elder brother she does not possess a lack of it. Rather, her long locks are her most prominent feature - a consequence of having unremarkable, average facial features and a rather mannish anatomy. These locks have been trimmed a precious few times, as after reaching a certain length Marr forbade any man or woman save Habruth herself to handle them, in one of his many religious devotions. They were thus recognised as something holy, and afterwards Habruth became proud of her hair, although it did not prove very practical in combat situations. If time permits before a battle, she will attach a brace to her neck that restrains the hair from flying about. The second feature that one would notice immediately upon meeting Habruth is her luminous blue eyes. A product of the creation of a Tyshaled Hamalvod, all members of the knighthood share the gleam that, though it is believed represents the person's soul themselves, has no functional ability. Rather, the functionality of the Tyshaled Hamalvod resides in the glowing aura of their soulsteel sword.


[b]D'shad Ahsor Vok[/b]

Just over twenty years after the birth of Habruth Ahsor Vok, Marr and his wife were suddenly expecting another child. The woman was ageing and she, nor her husband, had predicted that she still retained her ability to birth children. Nevertheless, an unexpected situation turned into a catastrophe, as Marr's wife died unfortunately in childbirth, leaving a shocked family with a wailing babe and a corpse. Marr was affected most negatively. Despite the fact that the couple's relationship had come to be through a series of drunken whims and a clash of personalities, he had cared deeply for his wife. He retired from his occupation as a Priest-Smith, and for the few years that he remained alive afterwards, he spent a great deal of time alone, praying, and writing his final teachings and thoughts. He strayed irrevocably away from his children, yet they were fully-fledged adults by this time - being twenty-five and twenty respectively when D'shad was born. Rhashul had learned everything he possibly could from his father and Habruth had been self-providing for over a decade. However, in the same way that Marr retreated into himself and away from his children, he also neglected his own new child - for any number of reasons: an unavoidable resentment for the death of his wife, or simply an incapability of raising another child, the upbringing of D'shad was left to Rhashul and Habruth.

The siblings did not shirk this task. Rhashul bestowed upon his new brother the same lessons that had been delivered unto him, and similarly Habruth committed to the child. She acquiesced into the position of a mother, for she could not teach the child anywhere near as much as Rhashul could, unless D'shad was to suddenly grasp a stick and attack the nearest wall. He didn't, so the Tyshaled Hamalvod used her available resources as a female to nurture her brother, in lieu of an actual mother. 

Then came the removal of the final attachment to Nyssos for the Ahsor Vok family: the death of Marr Ahsor Vok. He was sixty-four years of age, ailing from natural causes and the oppressive conditions of the Rainlands. All the while, Rhashul and Habruth had been noting and worrying over the diminishing power and glory of both the Salished Empire and Nyssos. The people were becoming more ravenous, and the authorities cared less than ever before. D'shad was still a child, only nine years old, and yet Habruth and the Tyshaled Hamalvod were combating beastkin and barbarians not five-hundred paces from the city walls. It was no place for a child, and the Empire was becoming increasingly unfit for the family itself. The siblings believed wholeheartedly that they had the knowledge and the right values to begin again the lost glory of the Salished Dynasties - those families that they knew everything about.

Throughout the next few years when the Reformation had been formed and Zoltur had been settled, D'shad adjusted to a new life, and his intelligence grew vastly with the practical demands of running a city and ensuring its survival. The boy did have to mature quickly at an early age - a sacrifice that was out of his control, and traits possessing his siblings were never able to take root within him - such as a religious disposition. D'shad became fairly uninterested in the Salished religion that everyone else was so fervent toward. He grew up with the land and the people that walked it, so they were his Gods and he theirs. Otherwise, Rhashul and Habruth passed on as many values and teachings as he could stomach, and acting as parents they cemented themselves as role models and beloved relations.


D'shad, having finally reached physical adulthood at the age of twenty-one, has a lighter shade of hair than that of his siblings - a rustic brown. His eyes are of the same earth-coloured hue, and they rise above a large nose and an ever-active mouth. D'shad has many chiselled features, in his chest and jawline, outlining him very much as a fighter, but in reality he does not practise combat nearly as much as his appearance suggests, and tends to follow his elder brother in more peaceful pursuits. In contrast, these pursuits are not those of the cool indoors and scrawls of parchment, but the great outdoors and practical skills. D'shad is an avid crafter and gatherer, often found in woodlands or accompanying the handymen living in Zoltur. [/hider]  

[color=9e0b0f]Important Holdings/Territory/Possessions[/color]: 
[b]Zoltur[/b]

Zoltur is a small city by modern standards, having but three sectors and only a couple of hundred buildings. The city lies on a gradual but unremarkable slant, being on the first incline of 'The Isolated Mountain', but that does not affect structural developments. The buildings are generally made out of wood and stone, but the Ministers are laissez-faire in regard to their people's living arrangements, so more ambitious citizens might acquire reinforced stone bricks or imported sandstone to award their home a unique nature. In this way, the living sector of the city is a mishmash of colour and culture, though the populace is still restricted to pure-blooded humans, so traditional buildings are the norm. The other two sectors of Zoltur are assigned to the government buildings and the palace, and the market and occupational centre. 

Zoltur's walls rise tall and are comprehensive, surrounding the entire city without fault. A huge oak gate protrudes from the western wall, equidistant from the nearby corners, and is the only entrance into the city. Outside the walls, activity still occurs, mainly by the mines that delve into the foundations of 'The Isolated Mountain' and provide Zoltur with its stone and other natural resources.

Zoltur still retains the vigour and hubbub of a child city, having only existed for around a decade, and frequent expansions are being made by the ever growing populace of the city state. 


[color=9e0b0f]Relation to other Factions[/color]: 
Largely unknown, though members of a faction may have heard of a new, rapidly expanding city state by the south coast, and they may be aware of the prominent Ahsor Vok family, especially if they had ever lived within Nyssos.[/centre]