Approved

[hider=Vanis Dominion][b]Faction name: [/b] Vanis Dominion
[b]-Faction Type:[/b] Theocratic Empire
-Flag/Banner: 

[b]NATIONAL[/b]
[b]-Capital: [/b]Vuel'Niranis
[b]-Government Type:[/b] Theocratic Monarchy
[b]-Currency:[/b] Vanian Sigils
[b]-Population:[/b]
40,000 High Nier
2,000,000 Lesser Nier
500,000 assorted other races. 

[hider=Traits][b]-Unique Trait #1:[/b] Power Unrivaled: The Dominion has access to a substantial and rather standardized amount of archeotech from a particular source. It is the tool through which so much of their ancient power is based and it still makes them a force to be reckoned with in the modern era. The beings who can command lances of the sunlight itself, shield themselves behind barriers of light, and once could call forth the legendary dragon engine, are quite potent and both respected and feared by many for what they once did.

[b]-Unique Trait #2: [/b] Lords Beneath the Earth: The Dominion is mostly set below ground and this makes their cities very difficult to besiege and easy to defend. Further to fight the Nier on their own home turf beneath the ground in tunnels of their making is a nightmare.  [/hider]

[hider=Flaws][b]-Unique Flaw #1 [/b] The Diminishing: The same source of much of the Dominion's ancient strength is the very reason that it has been slowly diminishing. It is dependent upon its technology and as time marches onward more and more things have failed. The technology that still works is fickle and loses charges quickly, and while the Dominion strives to recover all traces of Emissary technology the wear and tear of so many millenniums has taken its toll. 

[b]-Unique Flaw #2[/b] The Problem Of Parasitism: The Nier require other lifeforms to reproduce. This puts a fairly hard cap on the Nier population and also means that despite their potential ability to quickly spawn thousands of larva doing so would risk critical failure of the carefully constructed system of host creatures.[/hider]

[b]GEOGRAPHICAL[/b]
[b]-World-Realm Map: [/b]
[hider=Map][img]http://i.imgur.com/62D2LZg.png[/img] [/hider]
[b]-Major Cities:[/b]

[hider=Vuel'Niranis] The greatest city in the Dominion, Vuel'Niranis is a hallowed city, built within and around one of the greatest mountains in the known world. It is said that when Maev'Sil'Vien, the Bringer of Light, Mistress of the Emissaries descended from the Source above this mountain was her landing place. The name Vuel'Niranis means 'where light first descends'. It is perhaps the most impressive city in the world, at least in terms of sheer architectural achievement. It's halls are great caverns in the earth merged fluidly with the spires and domed architecture of the Nier. The very peak of the mountain city houses the Sanctum of the Radiance, where the Radiance retreats to commune with the Emissaries of the Light above. It is also the only city of the Dominion that is built even partially above ground.

There is another side to Vuel'Niranis however. It is not merely a great city, rich in culture and architecture, nor is it just the seat of a powerful nation. It is also possibly the sight of something more. Theories abound about the nature of the strange mountain and the Nier have never let anyone delve too deep into the heart of the mountain itself. There are rumors of great machines, of sacred relics, of ancient power housed within, but how much is a rumor and how much is truth is unknown. 

The other cities of the Dominion are hidden away beneath the earth and seldom visited. Though most of their locations are known to other nations at least approximately due to the presence of trading enclaves above them on the surface it can still be difficult to find one's way through the outer networks of tunnels to reach the cities without a guide. [/hider]

[b]-Major Castles:[/b] Due to the underground nature of the Dominion's settlements and the fact that they can be difficult to find and only really invaded through the Warrens there are few surface fortifications of note with the exception of the walls of Vuel'Niranis itself.

[b]-Geographic Features of Interest:[/b]

[hider=Vuel'Niranis] The mountain that the city is built within and above is a truly massive mountain that reaches high into the sky, it is noteworthy for not being volcanic as well as being one of the tallest mountains in the world, with no real explanation of how it got there. [/hider]

[hider=The Warrens] Beneath the surface of the world are a network of tunnels, some built by the Nier in their long existence beneath the earth, some that appear to predate them, and some that seem to have been carved perfectly with no signs of any tools at all. It is within the Warrens that all of the cities of the Dominion save Vuel'Niranis exist. They are largely free of hostile creatures though there have been reports of ghuls roaming some of the more isolated areas of the Warrens. The Warrens stretch throughout much of the world though even the Nier do not know them all and many outside of the Dominion have fallen into ruin with collapsed tunnels and weak points that make wandering them hazardous. [/hider]

[b]RACIAL[/b]
[b]-Majority Race: [/b]The Nier
[b]-Majority Race Appearance:[/b]
[hider=High Nier] The High Nier are peculiar if beautiful creatures. They possess a humanoid top half from the waist up. The top half of their bodies appears to be similar to that of a humanoid female with a very delicate build. Their skin is pale white and strangely hard, almost as if it was a mix between chitin and skin. Their eyes are large and black, vaguely insectile. Their hair is typically a pale silver white in color as well. Their arms are longer than a humans and tipped with 5 fingered hands. Each finger has an inch long point at the end of it. Due to their delicate appearance and the fair forms of their top halves the High Nier are often regarded as aesthetically pleasing. They do possess certain secondary sexual characteristics common to other humanoids.

Below the waist however they are less humanoid as from waist down they instead possess a set of 6 tentacle limbs that are a full 12 feet in length. Normally the High Nier stand with 4 feet of their tentacles used to elevate their bodies in an upright and humanoid fashion, with the other 8 feet remaining free to stretch out and serve as prehensile appendages. High Nier are capable of rearing up to a full height of 14 feet, but it is the equivalent of standing on tip toes for a human and is very difficult to maintain for more than a moment or two, it also makes their balance poor. The tentacles of a High Nier are long and white, and actually coated in a rather delicate membrane that is easily torn by sharp or rough objects. 

High Nier are typically clothed in the following manner. There is an inner layer of clothing that consists of the tentacle 'sheaths' and the tsrin. The sheaths are carefully made coverings that surround the tentacles and protect them from injury during the normal course of moving and other business. Each of the sheaths has a hole at the end to allow the tentacle to extend outwards when fine dexterity is required. The tsrin is a tube like garment that covers the upper half of the High Nier's body and ends slightly below where the tentacles emerge. Above the inner layer are the various kinds of vetsrin. The vetsrin are most comparable to extremely long dresses if put in human terms. These voluminous garments are often fairly form fitting in the upper body and then flow downwards and extend outwards into large pools of fabric on the ground. There are multiple reasons for the vetsrin, including appearing less alien to the majority of humanoid races who often find the lower limbs of the High Nier unsettling to behold. Should a High Nier stand to its full height the vetsrin will just slightly leave the ground, otherwise the voluminous garments are very effective at concealing the lower limbs unless the High Nier wishes to show them. Some vetsrin styles can include armor, and others can include finery depending on the situation. [/hider]

[hider=Lesser Nier]
*Servitors: Servitors are the smallest of the Nier variants and stand in at only about 4 feet tall. They have a body composed of two orb like portions, one of which is smaller than the other and set atop it. From the lower orb extend 6 spiderlike lower limbs. Also from the lower orb, though the higher part of it emerge two humanoid hands. The second orb is what functions for a head and has a pair of large insectile eyes and set of mandibles. Servitors are not very impressive physically and wear no clothing with rare exceptions. 

*Builders: Builders are the largest of the Nier, hulking creatures nearly the size of elephants. They are built similarly to the servitors, but their lower limbs are massive and so is the rest of their body. Their two upper limbs are large and end it shovel-like appendages that are used to dig and tunnel. Builders also have larger and more powerful jaws, along with an ability to spit an acid, mostly used to soften rock as they dig through it. Builders also do not normally wear clothing, though they are at times fitted with armor and used as incredibly stupid and slow, but useful shock troops

*Soldiers: Soldiers are larger than builders at roughly 6 feet in height and are much less spindly. Their front two lower legs are able to be raised and leveled to serve as spears and their upper limbs are heavily coated in natural armor but still retain the dexterity to be used to hold weapons of various kinds. [/hider]

[b]-Majority Race Characteristics:[/b]

[hider=High Nier] The High Nier are graceful and refined beings of typically high intelligence. However as a general rule they are physically frail and somewhat easily injured. There have been stories told about them and some believe that they are a product of experimentation by the old ones, or perhaps created by something else entirely as the Emissaries and Old Ones while similar in the stories do appear to be accompanied by different strains of archeotech The High Nier themselves have proclaimed that they are the chosen servants of Maev'Sil'Vien and that she had ordained that they watch over the other species of the world and ensure that the light of the Source was never threatened. 

Some have equated this Maev'Sil'Vien and her Emissaries with the old ones. The High Nier are the only beings among the Nier capable of reproduction, and the way in which they reproduce is not really a secret. The Nier are a parasitic species that reproduce through the injection of larva into a living host. The only known restrictions are that the host has to be of a sufficient size for the larva. The High Nier can control what sort of larva they implant, for example choosing to birth a new High Nier rather than a servitor. Their parasitic reproduction also serves as a check on the number of Nier in existence. It is a delicate balance that must be maintained. High Nier are capable of speaking both the languages of other humanoids and the language of the Nier.[/hider]

[hider=Lesser Nier]
The lesser Nier are not particularly intelligent. The most intelligent of the lesser Nier are the servitors who perform most of the menial tasks in the Dominion. Second most intelligent are the soldier Nier and third are the builders who are dumb enough to make trollkin look like geniuses. The lesser Nier with the exception of the builders can learn to understand human languages but are incapable of speaking them due to their inhuman mouths. [/hider]

[b]-Minority Races:[/b]
A smattering of all sorts of races from around the world.

NATIONAL DRAMATIS PERSONAE
[b]-Head of State/Monarch:[/b] Radiance Quislia XXIV
[b]-Ruling Dynasty:[/b] The Line of Quislia
[b]-Constable Of The Army:[/b] High Alduvin Eliseeri
[b]-Religious Head:[/b] Radiance Quislia XXIV
[b]-Persons of interest:[/b] 

[b]CULTURAL[/b]
[b]-History:[/b] 
[hider=History]
[hider=Age of Myth]The Dominion is a truly ancient nation that supposedly traces its existence back to an age when the world was not ruined. But the truth of this is questionable at best. At any rate the Nier claim that in the distant past the 'Goddess' Maev'Sil'Vien descended to the world of Azoth bringing with her the Emissaries, her holy servants and guardians. It is said that Maev'Sil'Vien created the Nier and lifted them up. And that in those days the world was a blessed place where the light of the Source filled all with its wonderful radiance. And then it is said that things changed, that a cataclysm struck. Maev'Sil'Vien and the Emissaries vanished with a last command, to keep watch for the enemies of the light for just as she and the Emissaries would one day return, so too would the enemies of the light. [/hider]

[Hider=Modern History] The departure and the time surrounding it are lost in the mists of time and the fading memories of the Crown of the Radiance. As long as anyone can remember the Nier have dwelt in Vuel'Niranis and the surrounding underground tunnels and hidden cities. In the less distant past they fought with the Dratha and against the ghul incursions but aside from their drive to search and find as much of a particular kind of archeotech that they claimed was their right the Nier were largely isolationist, though friendly isolationists, willing to offer aid to those fledging nations that were in need.

Things changed a few thousand years ago when the Imperishable Empire of Azar began its rise. The Radiance at that time declared that the Shaniatu were anathema, dark ones, enemies of the light and called for the Dominion to strike against them with the full force of their might. And this early strike was nearly successful in large part due to the presence of the Dragon Engine. But just when victory seemed assured the Empire did something that seemed impossible, they struck down the Dragon Engine and in the shock the Dominion forces were forced to retreat. 

Since then the Dominion has remained openly hostile to Azar, offering its aid to the enemies of the empire and has several time engaged in open warfare.
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[b]-List of Historical Grievances[/b] 
[hider=The Imperishable Empire] (Dependent on approval from other parties) It is said that long ago the first Radiance took counsel with the Emissaries and Maev'Sil'Vien herself, that the enemies of the light were described in detail, and that the High Nier were to keep watch and remain vigilant for any signs of their return. The Shaniatu, self proclaimed Gods of the Imperishable Empire resemble one of the ancient enemies of the light. The Nier also hate them for having the audacity to damage the Dragon Engine during the Dominion's early attempt to exterminate them. When The Shaniatu first appeared and began to build their empire the Dominion struck, attempting to eradicate them and seemed on the verge of succeeding before the Dragon Engine was crippled. Since then there have been many conventional struggles between the two.[/hider]
[b]-Relations:[/b]
To be determined

[b]-Cultural Notes[/b] WIP

[b]RELIGION, MAGIC and ARCHEO-TECH[/b]
[b]-State Religion: [/b]The Way of The Source

[b]-Religious Information: [/b] The Way of The Source is a simple belief system that venerates three things. The sun, seen as the holy Source of all light. Maev'Sil'Vien, the Queen of Emissaries and Mother of Light. And the Emissaries themselves, holy servants of the Source and Maev'Sil'Vien. If one lives their lives according to the tenants espoused by the Radiance, the representative of Maev'Sil'Vien upon Azoth, then they will one day ascend to become a part of the Source above. The fact that the Radiance demands little other than expressions of faith and occasional donations and signs of commitment from most believers makes this an easy and convenient faith to follow for many even outside of the Dominion. 

[b]-Religion Demographics: [/b] 

[b]-Holy Relics In Possession:[/b] The Crown of the Radiance, The Scepter of the Radiance, The Dragon Engine(defunct)

[b]-Holy Sites Under Control:[/b] Vuel Niranis, The Cradle

[b]-Magical Information[/b] The Nier as a race have only a single debatable magic ability. Many who have attempted to kill a High Nier have spoken of some power, a strange compulsion that struck at eye contact, a compulsion that forced them to leave, to abandon their efforts to kill. But those may only be folk stories as if the race had such an ability to compel others, would it not use that ability in situations other than self defense?

[b]-Archeo-Tech: [/b]
Relics of the Emissaries: From the Cradle and other sources within the warrens, and occasionally other places in the world(though rarely), the Nier have gathered all the relics they can find that they claim come from the Emissaries. It is notably that these relics differ from much of the archeotech more commonly found, with a heavy emphasis on light manipulation. Further aside from the Nier who seem to have no issues even beings like the Shaniatu have a difficult time wielding these relics which may be indicative of something. Some common forms of Dominion archeotech are found below. It is not a comprehensive list but most are variants of this and all of it is in similarly poor condition by this point.

[hider=Common Emissary Relics][b]Beam Staves:[/b] These are long metallic rods of nearly 6 feet in length that when activated charge for several seconds before firing a beam of deadly light. They are more accurate and deadly than primitive firearms but suffer from rapid depletion of their charges. It is said that they once held charge much better than they do now, with most requiring a recharge after a mere handful of beams. These are the most common relic of the Dominion.

[b]Shields of Sacred Light:[/b] Basically a force field that projects a golden aura around the being bearing it. The shields are nearly impervious but can only last for a minute or two of sustained use without exhausting their charges and needing to be recharged. The shields are much less common than the beam staves.

[b]Seedlings:[/b] These are basically power cells. Charged with energy from exposure to the Seed of the Source they are then used as mobile batteries to recharge things such as the beam staves and shields of sacred light. Similarly to the staves and the shields the seedlings last far less long then they once did. [/hider]

[Hider=Unique Relics]
[b]The Seed of the Source: [/b]The Seed of the Source is something seldom seen by any who are not either High Nier or extremely trusted within the dominion. In the hidden bowels of Vuel'Niranis are the preserved relics of a structure of some kind that. Within this facility is the thing that is called the Seed of the Source. Within a special chamber in the facility is a massive sphere of an unknown substance that blazes with intense heat and light. It is said to be a seed from the stars above and a holy object. It is from this that all of the Dominion's artifacts and weapons are powered.

[b]The Cradle: [/b]The Cradle is the remnant of a structure of unknown origin deep within the bowels of Vuel Niranis. The Nier believe that it was created by Maev'Sil'Vien and the Emissaries and it is one of their holiest sites. The Cradle gets its name from one of the most common structures within it, strange constructs of metal and other materials that contain within them fluids along with what appear to be exemplars of the various types of Nier and some things that look like mixtures of the Nier and other species of the world.

[b]The Dragon Engine:[/b] The Dragon Engine is perhaps one of the most terrifying weapons remaining in the world. Or at least it would be if it was still functional. The dragon engine, called such for its abilities to fly and vomit forth streams of what appeared to be a superior form of flames, is a highly advanced relic of the Emissaries and was once the Dominion's ultimate trump card ages ago. However it was badly damaged in a battle against one of the Dominion's rivals, (Dead Cruiser or Flagg, either of you would be great candidates for this.) and despite their efforts the Nier have been unable to restore it to full functionality. 

[b]Crown of the Radiance:[/b] The Crown of the Radiance is a crown that has been historically worn by every single Radiance of the Dominion. It is an impressive affair with golden spokes that appear to represent the rays of the sun and it covers the top of the face as well, with holes for the eyes to show. The Crown's actual purpose is something like a phylactery. It takes an imprint of every single Nier who dons it and adds that imprint to an amalgam. Like most of their artifacts the crown is showing its age, where once it was nearly perfect, creating an unbroken line of memories that the current Radiance could draw on, now it merely offers vague whispers of memory that can at times be useful. 
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[b]MILITARY[/b]
[b]-Total Military Size [/b] The standing forces of the Dominion come in at roughly 31,000 combatants. In times of total war the Dominion can raise up to 120,000 more, though it should be noted that most of the additional combatants would be servitors armed with weapons and not the hardened and bred for war forces of the Soldier Nier.

[b]-Military Details[/b] The vast majority of the Dominion's armies are made up of the soldier Nier who are naturally armored and blessed with natural weapons. They are blessed with combat instincts and are completely impervious to fear themselves, they exist to fight and that is what they do best. At the same time they aren't very intelligent and can easily be outsmarted. With the exception of a few elite units of Soldier Nier the Soldier Nier do not wield any of the relic weapons in battle. The High Nier serve primarily in an officer roll over the masses of Lesser Nier in battle. All High Nier who go to war are at least equipped with a Beam Staff and most are also defended by a Shield of Sacred Light. 

[b]-Specific Units and Combat Styles of Note[/b]

The Sword Dance: An ancient combat form originally created and practiced by the High Nier. While there have been a few humans who had studied under High Nier mentors they can only rise so far due to their possession of only two blades. The rank of a Sword Dancer can be identified by the number of blades they wield, Blade Master, Two Blade Master, up to the highest echelon of the Eight Blade Master. The Sword Dance is an artistic form of combat that involves the wielding of many blades in a fluid fashion to create unstoppable storms of death. The blades used for the Sword Dance are nearly always light and thin blades chosen for sharpness and speed.


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