Bytherio

A city in turmoil, rocked by numerous schisms and power struggles with neighboring Vilesephith, Bytherio is the fourth most influential city-state in the Charhyan Federation. Only recently regaining its sovereignty from Vilesephith, the city is scrambling to codify its internal power structure in the power vacuum left by the slaughter of the previous ruling house, Grot Hinraio. In 1079 AC, Tonda reached an agreement with Vilesipheth whereby the latter would relinquish control over Bytherio in return for a more prominent role in foreign relations.
Local religion focuses on (though is certainly not exclusive to) a volcano demigod by the name of Tocbruun, from whom most of the inhabitants claim descent. Descendants are often marked by one of a few remarkable physical features, such as gold-flecked eyes.
The state is renowned throughout the Charhyan Federation for their pottery, especially intricate amphorae used in the production of "kleggs", a wine made from local tree fruit.

Cinders of the Silver Rain

During the last appearance of Gnet in 1052 AC, many of the hunting areas around the city of Bytherio were suddenly beset by a rain of silver needles that destroyed swaths of cropland and decimated the adult population of the city, an event which came to be known as The Silver Rain. Many residents attributed the event to Tocbruun's displeasure with the level of reverance he was receiving, and as the generation of children orphaned by the event came of age, they began to look for religious answers to the societal and economic struggles that had pervaded the years since.
Around 1065 AC, a movement calling themselves the "Cinders of the Silver Rain" realized rapid growth under the charismatic leadership of a wood elf named Carnuls Draith, who had survived the Silver Rain despite being pierced by five of the deadly needles: one through each limb and a fifth that remained implanted directly between her eyes. Draith taught her followers that Tocbruun's wrath consumed not only non-descendants, but also those of his lineage who were tolerant of the presence of non-descendants, and thus the only way for orphaned descendants to restore their families' honor was by driving out or slaughtering outsiders who had settled within the wider state of Bytherio.
Due to thr fragile nature of Bytherian society, it only took Draith and the Cinders 4 years to gain overwhelming support among the "Tocborn" in Bytherio, forming a fierce militia that was able to force the dynastic ruler, Pshenti Dorntel, to flee the capital city and thus forfeit governance of the state to Draith in 1069.
The Cinders wasted no time in intimidating non-Tocborn to leave the state, and soon began a purging campaign to destroy those who refused to flee. For the next three years the Cinders plundered the entire state of Bytherio, making up for the economic devastation by claiming the resources and property of the purged.
Support for the movement dissipated almost instantly following the humiliating death of Carnuls Draith in 1072: while blessing an infant Trocborn in a highly public ceremony during one of the most important festivals of the Charhyan calendar, an errant kick from the infant dislodged the needle embedded in Draith's forehead, causing massive hemorrhaging and almost instant death.
News of the Cinders' collapse quickly reached the exiled Pshenti Dorntel, who rallied a small army of those still fathful to the dynastic rulership of Grot Hinraio ("house Hinraio") and swept the remaining zealots from the capital city of Bytherio. In an attempt to minimize damage to the infrastructure and wider population of a city already reeling from decades of chaos and bloodshed, Dorntel struck quickly, fiercely, and under cover of night. The Cinders' remaining leadership was dispatched indescriminately; among the dead was one of Draith's most recently recruited lieutenants, who also happened to be a noble of Grot Messler, one of the noble houses of the neighboring state of Vilesephith.

Type

State