The Harronyne - Main

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Backstory:

The Harronyne is the island to the west and north of Emperor Island, a rocky, rugged and mostly barren piece of land rising up out of the harsh surf. The Harronyne's soil is usually unfit for any delicate crops, but olives and other delicacies are grown along the Clearwater while delicious fruits abound in the Arbal Forest region. In the north the fruits of the land are iron, sulfur and stone. The soil is too harsh there for winter weat, forcing the lesser classes to hunt, butcher, forage or milk for the majority of their summer diet. Seperating these two vastly different countries are the arid Mysan Mountains, home to the olive-skinned Mysanese. To the west lays the Reaver's Coast, a nest of pirates.

Historically ruled by a royal house who united the island through conquest, the country is now split in a bloody civil war. Thirty-two years ago, the prince Astan ascended to the throne at seventeen, after his father apparently died of sickness. He soon proved to be insane, finding humour and enjoyment in the macabre. His sister, Elyriel, four years his elder, began a civil war, claiming that Astan had poisoned the old king.

The war now stands at a stalemate, the Kingsmen holding to tradition north of the Mysan Mountains as the Queensmen hold against them in the south.

(Work-in-progress) Map, currently limited to cities and major geographical features: Click Here

 

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Religion:

The majority of the Harro worship local gods. In the traditional Harro religion, every feature of the land is a god: the forests, the lakes, the rivers, the mountains, the fields, the downs, the marshes and more. It is important to have the favour of the local god before resources are taken from the land or it is settled. If the local god is known to be angry at you, it is best to pass through quickly and do nothing to the land.

The gods also play an important role in battle, as he who the god favours shall be strengthened, and he who the god does not will be weaker.

There are three gods that are not local:
Ayún, the sky goddess.
Ander, the sea god.
And Hunt, the Hornblower. It is said that when the faithful land on foreign soils and blow their horns, so Hunt blows his, and awakens the slumbering gods that will be worshipped again.

Each type of terrain has specific gender associated with it.

Rivers are feminine.
Lakes and pools are masculine.
Mountains are masculine.
Forests are feminine.
Fertile flatlands (fields) are feminine.
Hilly areas and highlands are masculine.
Deserts are masculine.
Swamps are feminine.
Deltas are feminine, the daughters of their mother rivers, while all other coastline is masculine.

The Harro bury their beloved dead in sacred groves, each tended by at least on priest. These groves are their holy places, and they keep no temples. There is one such grove for every god, for every geographical feature. If the dead are sent to one of the three non-local gods, however, the process is different. If given to Ayún, the body is burnt to ashes and spread to a strong wind. Ander takes those who die at sea, and to be sent to him requires the body to be sent to sea. Hunt takes those valorous souls who die in battle. To be sent to Hunt, a man's body must be shipped to the Hornblower's Shrine east of Cape Kayle, where it must be burnt upon the sacred pyre of ash-white stone. Those ashes must be collected and gathered in a horn, then placed in the tombs beneath the shrine.

The Harrow believe that those given to Hunt await the day when Harro horns blow to announce a march upon the outside world, at which time they will rise and join his army of ash-warriors.

Sacred groves and the Hornblower's Shrine have been heavily involved in diplomatic relations during the civil war. It is an affront to all gods to kill a man within those sacred confines, and so those meeting in parley can be almost completely assured of their safety.

 

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Before the Cataclysm the Harro were a group of seafaring clans constantly raiding all over the Archipelago. For that reason, even in modern times, a contempt for them has remained amongst most of the Archipelago. During the events of the Cataclysm, the tsunamis crashed against the shores of the Harronyne, destroying their ship and villages. Those who did survive were slow to rebuild, and many took to the Mysan Mountains, slowly becoming the Mysar tribesmen. Born in year 11, a man named Kandor Kayle would unite the Harro by year 53 with a promise of conquest. His fleet of roughly thirty thousand sailed for Emperor Island in year 54, but that year a hurricane swept through and destroyed 597 of 601 ships. His flagship, the Ironstorm, was amongst the surviving.

When Kandor returned to the Harronyne the Harro did not see him as a failure, but as a survivor. It was said his blood was that of Hunt, and that he would one day wake the slumbering gods around the world.

While Kandor died of flu in year 67, the Harro did not lose faith in his blood, nominating his son Kamo as their king, and his sons after him and so on.

 

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Demographics

The Harronyne is home to roughly 3,150,000 people. Most of this population is focused to the east coast. Roughly half of all the people on the Harronyne reside south of the Myran Mountains, making them Queensmen. Between a third and half of the Harro are Kingsmen, living in the north. There is, however, an issue in the south, being many men's reluctance to follow Queen Elyriel. For this reason King Astan commands an equal militiary might, the reason for the stalemate of twelve years.

About 40,000 people, the Myranese, live in and around the Myran mountains. While these men have no care for the politics of the wider Harronyne, they are often hired as mercenaries by both Harro and foreigners.

Aproximately 20,000 men and women live in the cave complexes of Reaver's Coast. These pirate colonies are easily defended and difficult to infiltrate, making it nearly impossible to drive them out.