The founding of Skaris

Introduction

Skaris is a troubled city of religious devotion, where piety, poverty and purge (the three axioms of Yorheni Aruhvianism) have become the founding concepts. Skaris is a well defended fortress city of white stone that exists in the depths of almost impenetrable blackbriar. The only road that runs through the forest to the gates of the city, known to the Skarisi as the Path of Martyr's Tears, is surrounded on both sides by the Blackbriar, which grows high and eventually arches over to form in places a virtual tunnel of thorns. The Skarisi are ruled by the Coven of the Pure, a theocratic council who still cling to Aruhvianism, even though the religion has fragmented and collapsed. Skarisi believe that they are the true custodians of the Aruhvian faith, and that across the rest of the dissolute and immoral Arclands, that the religion has been abandoned (they are to some extent correct in this view). The coven believes that only greater acts of piety will secure Aruhvianism in Skaris in the future and that the absence of the Keeper is simply a test of faith and nothing more. Because of its location, Skaris is dependent on food supplies beyond the blackbriar and has a small naval outpost at Khondre on the coast; it is from here that Skaris controls the plentiful Ty Islands that were seized from the control of Hothis two decades ago. Despite this material abundance, the coven restrict food supplies to Skaris to encourage piety and discourage material enjoyment and fulfilment, hoping that this will guide their people to redemption in the eyes of the Keeper. Origins of Skaris
The year -52 marks the beginning of the Sundering era, that lasted into the first decade of the present age. It was a year for Aruhvians across the Arclands of terrible portents and signs. Blood red sunrises, periodic storms of stinging black rain, the devout plagued by terrible dreams and more. It was clear to those who were learned in Aruhvian lore that a great imbalance had begun in the celestial order an for a small few who understood Old Vannic and could access the most ancient histories of the Vannic peoples in the Library of Harenis, these were the signs of a future Sundering. One scholar, Elunre Ashtar of Hothis, who had gathered around her a small school of devout Yorheni Aruhvians, travelled deep into the darkest recesses of the library, living in the cold and the dust for three years (an event later ritualised by the Skarisi in the Observance of the Dark), where she sought answers. She read and studied and learned and on the outside the world grew more chaotic. She claimed that she was visited by the Grace Y'vestan himself, beloved of the Keeper, who told her that in the chaos of the Sundering, the world would become more corrupt and sinful, and that signs of the Keeper's love for his children would all but vanish. She came to believe that the only way to keep the connection between the Keeper and humanity was to create a place that was so devout, so pure and so pious that the Keeper would both love and trust humanity, even through the coming chaos. The Old Vannic term for purity was escaros, or in modern Arclandish Vannic Skaris.

Ashtar's Journey

On her return to Hothis, Ashtar saw in the city many of the things that she had come to revile. The city was built around a forest that was both revered and feared by inhabitants as a site of spiritual energy and power; a culture in Hothis that celebrated personal freedom and exploration in every possible realm of existence was seen by Ashtar to be corrupt, wicked and immoral. She gathered three hundred followers and, as the Sundering intensified over the next five years, prepared them to leave and walk into the wilderness, where she believed the Graces would guide her and take her to the site of their new home. Instinctively, she knew that a march eastwards, towards the inhospitable Black Briar forest was the only answer. She knew that the journey was a test of faith and that the pilgrims had to be prepared to show devotion and to experience suffering. The dense, impenetrable wilderness of thorns was just the place to show this resolve, but Ashtar also knew that there were too few of them to survive. As they marched, Ashtar's followers kidnapped hundreds of peasants and villagers from the small communities that existed between Hothis and the blackbriar. These hostages made up the new labour force of Skaris.

The Ninety Mutineers

Ashtar convinced the doubting pilgrims who she led that the blackbriar would provide sanctuary once they had shown that they could endure any hardship as an act of devotion and faith. As they drew closer to the brooding darkness of the forest they encountered a band of ninety Dranian soldiers who had rebelled against their commander and were led by a young Del'Marahan called Efekran. Ashtar took Efekran as her consort, knowing that his men would follow him. The ninety mutineers joined with Ashtar and ventured into the forest, placing their faith in the mystic. In the darkness of the Black Briar they learned however, that they were not alone. The Sundering had begun to awaken the spirits of the forest and the cunning, ruthless and vengeful Black Briar Fey killed dozens of the faithful as they trekked deeper into the forest. It was fortunate for the pilgrims that as they journeyed deeper into the forest, that only a handful of the Fey had awoken. Guided by visions of the Grace Y'vestan, they found high ground at the fork of the river Suarne which Ashtar believed the city of Skaris was meant to be built on. The new Skarisi understood that they had limited time to create a stronghold as the power of the Black Briar Fey grew steadily as more of them awoke from their long sleep as a result of the approach of the Sundering. It was the discovery in the cliffs along the riverbanks of a certain hard white marble-like stone that seemed to act as a ward against the Fey whenever it was quarried. As the walls of Skaris were built with back breaking labour supplied by the villagers kidnapped by Ashtar, the powerful white stones were incorporated into the wall. The ninety mutineers formed the vanguard of Skaris's army and trained the growing population of Skarisi how to fight. Inhabitants of the new settlement fished from the Suarne, foraged in the woods and sailed down river to trade with settlements beyond the forest, supplying the Skarisi with just enough food to survive.

City of the Faithful

As Ashtar grew older she retreated into prayer and meditation. In her place five leaders, known as the Five Exiles emerged. As hundreds of the faithful died in the wilderness of exhaustion and disease as they built the city the Five Exiles knew that the hungry and tired Skarisi faithful would soon eventually lose their zeal; they had been promised a new life that was the Keeper’s gift to them, the Celestial Realm on Earth. Gradually, the image of heaven on earth faded away from the Skarisi's minds and instead a city in a hard and uncompromising wilderness was built; religious devotion and sadistic cruelty were the only ways of keeping the faithful in line, exhorting them to ever greater efforts and sacrifices. What benign aspects there had originally been to Aruhvianism quickly vanished and instead were replaced by a cult of suffering and punishment, where eternal salvation in the arms of the Keeper is earned by ever greater purges and pain in this world. Along with their belief in their own moral superiority, the Skarisi set about (with hired Dranian help) conquering the surrounding region, claiming farms, settlements and towns for their own warped version of the Aruhvian faith. As Skaris grew and became an ever more formidable fortress in the dark forest, so did the strength of Skarisi Aruhvianism; across most of the Arclands during the era of the binding, Aruhvianism gradually went into decline but the Skarisi faith was strong, as was their ability to impose it violently on others. Now Skaris is accepted as the world centre of the Aruhvian faith, which is popularly seen as puritanical and intolerant. The Skarisi, like the Ghothars, have insecure food supplies and are constantly on the look out for weaker territories with ample resources to dominate. The Sundering devastated Aruhvianism across the Arclands, leaving most ordinary people believing that either the Keeper had abandoned them, or that he had been a fiction in the first place. In the face of this challenge, the Skarisi redoubled their efforts and their devotion, believing that true faith was the belief in a god in its absence.

The problem of the Ninety

Dran had not forgotten about its ninety mutineers. The lords of the Mondrias and Varren families of Dran knew that the city's power was derived from its mercilessness in the face of any challenge; allowing mutineers to go unpunished was not an option. In Skaris, Efekran had fallen out of favour when Ashtar became a recluse and slowly he began to realise that he and his men were doomed. As Dranian legions became the substitute military power for the Skarisi, the lords of Dran were able to use leverage to pressurise their pious clients to hand over the rogue Dranian soldiers. There were factions in Skaris, notably the pauper Aruhvians (a barefoot sect of monks who saw care for the poor, not self denial and the purging of the body as the way to holiness), who were sympathetic towards the mutineers and arranged their escape. Efekran knew that there was no alternative than to cross into the Black Briar and in desperation offered a deal to the Fey, safe passage for him and his men in return for anything they asked. Their response was oddly reasonable. All they asked is that Efekran plant a seed in the gardens of the new city, which he did. As he and his comrades stole out of the city in the dead of night and vanished into the blackbriar, the seed began to grow slowly and grew deep into the foundations of the city, piercing earth and eventually stone. Efekran and the ninety were never seen again, but the pauper Aruhvians who helped them escape were caught and burned alive on the city walls. After their purge, all other sects of Aruhvianism that deviated from strict Skarisi-Yorheni Aruhvian doctrine (later called Ashtarian Aruhvianism after Elunre died) were purged and the city finally became the seat of extreme violent purity it exists as today.