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Lunamaria Hawke
KTostadaHi ya'll hope you're ready for some THICC lore!
HISTORY OF ADANION
THE TWIN FAITH
THE TWILIGHT CHOIR
HISTORY OF ADANION
The phrase "House Loyce is Adanion and Adanion is House Loyce" is more literal than some people realize. House Loyce traces its origins to the legendary warrior-king Adandum of Lowyst, a prince from over the Great Bastion Mountains. He and his people had been exiled from their homeland, sent to die in the cold and snow of the mountains but managed to find a passage in the impassable mountains. Leading his people through, Adandum sealed the pass behind him and proclaimed that he would either "carve a new home or carve a grave in the ground" in the new land.
The land was already home to a hundred tribes and clans, having lived for untold generations in the area yet none of them were able to conquer enough of their enemies and the few that did never had their realms survive past succession if that. Adandum would have been just one of another many yet he brought something vital to the unnamed land from his homeland, administration. A great warrior and conquer, Adandum proved just as adept at managing his new conquests and peoples, capable of mustering huge armies while keeping his civilians fed. By the time he was on his death bed, Adandum had fought every tribe and clan, sometimes even massive confederations and alliances, and won, claiming nearly all of the land between the mountains. He named his new kingdom after himself, Adanion.
His eldest daughter, Omera, would succeed after him as Adandum's eldest son had fallen in battle. She took a husband from one of the local tribes unlike her father, a man from a tribe called the Yorice she completed her father's work and was crowned the first High Queen of Adanion, Queen Omera Lowyst-Yorice, a name that would eventually melt together into the modern House Loyce. She would prove instrumental in the long term stability of her family's future rule, expanding the royal court and government, granting titles to her father's followers and those tribal leaders who had bent the knee and codifying the myraid of local legends and beliefs into the Twin Faith, appointing the first Pontifex and Meratrix who in turn granted House Lowyst-Yorice legitimacy to their rule. The Kingdom of Adanion had been built on warriors, but House Loyce kept it through ministers.
tl;dr - The founder of House Loyce was a legendary warrior from across the mountains who most important ability was good governance, a trait passed on to his daughter who ruled after him that solidified the gains and laid the foundations for modern Andion and House Loyce.
The land was already home to a hundred tribes and clans, having lived for untold generations in the area yet none of them were able to conquer enough of their enemies and the few that did never had their realms survive past succession if that. Adandum would have been just one of another many yet he brought something vital to the unnamed land from his homeland, administration. A great warrior and conquer, Adandum proved just as adept at managing his new conquests and peoples, capable of mustering huge armies while keeping his civilians fed. By the time he was on his death bed, Adandum had fought every tribe and clan, sometimes even massive confederations and alliances, and won, claiming nearly all of the land between the mountains. He named his new kingdom after himself, Adanion.
His eldest daughter, Omera, would succeed after him as Adandum's eldest son had fallen in battle. She took a husband from one of the local tribes unlike her father, a man from a tribe called the Yorice she completed her father's work and was crowned the first High Queen of Adanion, Queen Omera Lowyst-Yorice, a name that would eventually melt together into the modern House Loyce. She would prove instrumental in the long term stability of her family's future rule, expanding the royal court and government, granting titles to her father's followers and those tribal leaders who had bent the knee and codifying the myraid of local legends and beliefs into the Twin Faith, appointing the first Pontifex and Meratrix who in turn granted House Lowyst-Yorice legitimacy to their rule. The Kingdom of Adanion had been built on warriors, but House Loyce kept it through ministers.
tl;dr - The founder of House Loyce was a legendary warrior from across the mountains who most important ability was good governance, a trait passed on to his daughter who ruled after him that solidified the gains and laid the foundations for modern Andion and House Loyce.
THE TWIN FAITH
The Twin Faith is the religion of Adanion, codified by Queen Omera and formed from the many old myths, faiths and beliefs from the original tribes. It believes in a world of balance by complimentary pairs: the Sun and the Moon, a Man and a Woman, a Noble and a Commoner, a Warrior and a Minister, the Heavens and the Earth. They imagine a great scale on which everything is to be balanced upon so that the world does not fall into chaos and disaster. They believe in a Sky Father and an Earth Mother who worked together to create the world and the people on it. Also known as the Master and the Mistress, it is the Master who can create things but it is the Mistress who preserves them, both equally important and complimentary.
Just as with their gods, the faith is lead by a pair, a male Pontifex and a female Meratrix. The faith is ministered to the masses by priests and priestesses from lonely hamlet shrines to bustling village churches to grand, regal cathedrals. Clergy are allowed to marry and have kids, but they are not allowed to hold or inherit titles, a loophole exploited by some Great Houses to rid themselves of eldest children in favor of their more capable younger sibling in the name of faith.
tl;dr - Think Christianity in terms of aesthetics without Jesus and with Daoist/Incan ideas about balance.
Just as with their gods, the faith is lead by a pair, a male Pontifex and a female Meratrix. The faith is ministered to the masses by priests and priestesses from lonely hamlet shrines to bustling village churches to grand, regal cathedrals. Clergy are allowed to marry and have kids, but they are not allowed to hold or inherit titles, a loophole exploited by some Great Houses to rid themselves of eldest children in favor of their more capable younger sibling in the name of faith.
tl;dr - Think Christianity in terms of aesthetics without Jesus and with Daoist/Incan ideas about balance.
THE TWILIGHT CHOIR
The Twilight Choir is a political and social movement that gained traction during the reign of weak kings and exploded during the rule of King Colyt II the Mad. It is seen as an almost revolutionary movement against the abuses of the monarchy, the great houses of Adanion and even the Church made of peasants, merchants and even some lesser nobles. Their name stems from a rejection of the "corrupted" Church as Twilight is between both Day and Night, a blending of both sides just as how their movement blends different social classes together. Although the Pontifex has declared this idea of blending over balance to be heretical, some clergy have joined the movement seeking church reforms.
Disgruntled peasants, having long suffered under inept rule, previous famine and the abuse by those above them wish to better their lives by overthrowing the power structure that has kept them repressed for centuries. Wealthy merchants whose power only grew as trade increased seek more power and presence in the politics of the kingdom as according to ancient decree, only those of noble blood are allowed into politics and only the lowest of lords are willing to marry merchant families, believing their role in economics is the only reason why the kingdom didn't bankrupt itself even during the age of weak monarchs. They seek a radical new form of republican oligarchy, where the old monarch and Great Houses are removed so that (according to them) "only the people who have helped the kingdom can rule it".
As for why the lesser knights and noble families also support the Choir is because during the reign of the Mad King, it had been the nobles of the lesser houses who bore the brunt of the madness. While the Great Houses complain of loosing a child or family member, entire lesser houses have been erased, their only remains being the bodies that hang in cages on the sides of roads. They accuse the Great Houses of forsaking their feudal vows and failing to protect them from the mad king despite their loyalty and vows to them. They side with the merchants in their radical new ideas believing that they can do a better job of ruling justly and fairly than the Great Houses can and tired of the apparent weakness in House Loyce.
Some have also taken the death of Crown Prince Daymian, the man thought to be the savior of the kingdom, as a sign of divine proof that the Master and the Mistress no longer grant their blessing to House Loyce to be rulers of Adanion. While the Church at large dismisses this claim, some individual priests preach it to agitated churches and rumor says there are those higher in Church leadership who believe as well, if for no other reason than potential political gain.
Of the two claimants, only Anyamara recognizes the true threat the Choir possesses to both the status of the noble houses as well as to the stability of the realm as she can see that even if they succeed, the Choir will split into smaller factions who will continue to fight among one another. Sharles, having grown up in ignorant comfort, believes the Choir is simply asking for better living conditions, refusing to believe they are actually seeking a full revolution of the social order.
tl;dr - Think of a mix of a peasant revolt, a republican uprising, a communist/socialist revolution, a noble rebellion and the Yellow Turban rebellion (loosing the divine right to rule) rolled into one.
Disgruntled peasants, having long suffered under inept rule, previous famine and the abuse by those above them wish to better their lives by overthrowing the power structure that has kept them repressed for centuries. Wealthy merchants whose power only grew as trade increased seek more power and presence in the politics of the kingdom as according to ancient decree, only those of noble blood are allowed into politics and only the lowest of lords are willing to marry merchant families, believing their role in economics is the only reason why the kingdom didn't bankrupt itself even during the age of weak monarchs. They seek a radical new form of republican oligarchy, where the old monarch and Great Houses are removed so that (according to them) "only the people who have helped the kingdom can rule it".
As for why the lesser knights and noble families also support the Choir is because during the reign of the Mad King, it had been the nobles of the lesser houses who bore the brunt of the madness. While the Great Houses complain of loosing a child or family member, entire lesser houses have been erased, their only remains being the bodies that hang in cages on the sides of roads. They accuse the Great Houses of forsaking their feudal vows and failing to protect them from the mad king despite their loyalty and vows to them. They side with the merchants in their radical new ideas believing that they can do a better job of ruling justly and fairly than the Great Houses can and tired of the apparent weakness in House Loyce.
Some have also taken the death of Crown Prince Daymian, the man thought to be the savior of the kingdom, as a sign of divine proof that the Master and the Mistress no longer grant their blessing to House Loyce to be rulers of Adanion. While the Church at large dismisses this claim, some individual priests preach it to agitated churches and rumor says there are those higher in Church leadership who believe as well, if for no other reason than potential political gain.
Of the two claimants, only Anyamara recognizes the true threat the Choir possesses to both the status of the noble houses as well as to the stability of the realm as she can see that even if they succeed, the Choir will split into smaller factions who will continue to fight among one another. Sharles, having grown up in ignorant comfort, believes the Choir is simply asking for better living conditions, refusing to believe they are actually seeking a full revolution of the social order.
tl;dr - Think of a mix of a peasant revolt, a republican uprising, a communist/socialist revolution, a noble rebellion and the Yellow Turban rebellion (loosing the divine right to rule) rolled into one.