Vraitha

Overview

The kingdom of Vraitha is a matriarchal kingdom, with its capital of Vrasathra (Our Purple Lady). It is located in the cold north-east, north from Acresea, the land of the Spiritfarer.

Despite the rumours that the Mistress or the women in general are man-eating witches the females hold their men in high praise. The men are the working class, are the warriors, those who protect and who can get things done with the proper guidance. They are not equal, not even the temporary Ministers and every women is considered to be a part of divinity, but even the Consort of the Mistress is praised. But the leaders of families, be it common, nobel or royal, are the women, mostly the oldest and hopefully wisest of them.

They can decide if their man can and should work, at least technically. None would forbid it. The women can decide what the family eats, what they wear, what their crest is if they have one. That might sound as they would hold their men on a leash, but that is nonsense. Men are praised as well and treated like decent human beings (mostly), but if an argument breaks out, the voice of the woman has twice as much weight as the mans just by nature. Which is not often the case, but it had happened.

In light of this a man can never rule, not even over his own family. If he has no wife or a sister or someone, he has to be "adopted" or marries another woman, sometimes it is even brokered by the priests of Vraitha. A man without the guidance of a female hand is a lost sheep, they think and most of the time it is really accurate. So powerful positions are normally not given to men, only temporary until the next acceptable woman arrives to fill the position.

Leadership

Vraitha is lead by a Mistress (what others might call Queen) and, if she is married, a Consort. The actual Mistress is Vrinis and has no Consort and is not on the search for one. Not that there isn't someone approaching, but she is not aware of that. But this... is a story for another time.

The Mistress has the power over her entire kingdom and the Consort has literally no power, excluding the servants. He might has a bit of power over certain areas but only when the Mistress assigns him to it like the armoury for example.

Government

Besides the Mistress and her Consort there are a few Ministress who are responsible over various areas like the Ministress of Finance or the Ministress of Structure. Their numbers are not fixed since every Mistress can assign tasks and areas of expertise to a Ministress of her choice. Generally speaking every Mistress tries not to mix certain areas in one Ministress, but sometimes it has to be that way.

During the events of the Spiral and the rule of Vraruka there were three Ministress and a Chamberlain. Now Vrinis has eight Ministress, a Chamberlain and a Companion.

The position of the Companion (male, female, diverse, both) is one close to a Consort, but more. It is a honourable and honoary position. The Companion is the closest person to the Mistress, knows her secrets, her fears, her cycle, her favourite snack, her position in bed, her favourite time of day and is sometimes even a bed Companion. That entirely depends on how the ruling Mistress sees the position of a Companion. Some use them as a Jack-of-all-trades like a knife in the dark, a cook, a bed warmer and a storyteller, others only use them for errands and non-official business. Whatever they are used for, the Companion has a relatively safe and comfortable life and is trained in a lot of things like fighting, tactics, potions and whatever traditions and the Mistress demands.

Resources

Besides having a lot of stone, wood and fish Vraitha has huge flocks of sheep and goats. The goats are just goats, but the sheep have a really curly, fluffy and easy to use wool. The sheep are sometimes so woolly, that they are practically a cloud on legs. Even the rams look like this with black curved horns which are used really effectively against foes like wolves, opponents or just the sheperd.

In terms of raw materials they have a few mines for iron and gems, but next to nothing in gold, silver or other precious metals which are subject for import.

Arts & Craft

The Vraithians have a serious business in oil paintings (the Shadow Painter is one of them), sculpting statues, pottery and jewelry. Some materials are native, others are imported. Those are the most costly items one can get out of Vraitha, but their other goods like robes, dresses and suit or just their cuisine are notable as well.

Religion

There are two deities in Vraitha which are venerated by royality, nobility and common folk alike: the Mother of Ravens and the Father of Crows. Traditionally the Mother is worshipped by women and the Father by men, but this is interchangable, there is no rule which says you need to worship the Mother as a woman or not. You can worship one, both or none at all, but the non-worshippers are few in numbers.

There is one large temple in Vrasathra where worshippers can attend the morning and evening rites. They are set at the sixth and twentieth hour every day. There are two temples inside the larger building which are mirrored against each other, one entrance is open to the east, one to the west.

The Mother of Ravens and the Father of Crows are not a couple. You could say they are distant friends and that is pictured in their temples as well: together in the same building, but apart from each other like raven and crows in the real world.

Mother of Ravens

Mother of Ravens Altar by CrazyEddie & Theiket via Midjourney

The Mother of Ravens - sometimes "Our Feathery Lady" - is one of the two major deities in Vraitha. She is often refered to as the guardian of the Mistress and is tied to birth, messengers or messages, protector of children and women, knowledge, healing and a safe passage into the afterlife. Some say that she was the first deity and those tie her to the dawn of a new day, the arrival of a raven with good news.
She doesn't encourage war or clash of weapons or even fighting (with or without weapons or just with words), but she lends strength if necessary. She does like poems, songs and prose and a healthy discussion for example in the throne room or in political negotiations. She is a friend of fire, silk, chocolate and silver.
Her sign is a feather and a black drop at the bottom of the quill. She is mostly depicted as a middle-aged woman with a black feather-coat (or her skin, it varies) surrounded by huge ravens, some of them even sit on her shoulder. A few artists depict her standing with ravens on her arms or at her feet.

Mother of Ravens by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

---

Father of Crows

Father of Crows Altar by CrazyEddie & Theiket via Midjourney

The Father of Crows - sometimes "Our Smoke Father" because crows like smoke and battlefields - is the second major deity in Vraitha. He is often refered to as the guardian and guide of the Consort and men in the kingdom. He is often tied to war, death, diseases, but also knowledge, guide of warriors, protector of family and men, passage to the afterlife and bringer of the chill night. So he is often tied to the sunset.
He does encourage intelligent fighting with tactics, not just dumb brawling like in a pub. He lends his strength if fighting breaks out and likes to sing about it. It is not a surprise that he likes tales of war or heroism. He is a friend of cold steel, gold, strong alcohol, frost and amber.
His sign is a feather where the quill is the hilt of a sword or a dagger. He is often depicted as an aging warrior with a long coat made out of feathers with a longsword and a braided beard, surrounded by a murder of crows on his shoulders, at his feet or on his arms.

Father of Crows by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

---

Cuisine

Cuisine in Vraitha is based around animals like sheep, goat, cow, boars (if they can get them) nuts, mushrooms, beets and other plants. Fermented goatmilk (for Corcha for example) is a good method for a lot of their cooking and they might have used the cuisine and the knowledge of the Goblins for fermentation for that.

So you have goat or sheep stew, roasted sheep with hazelnut gravy and cabbage or sheep baked with mushrooms, nuts and fermented cabbages or just a side of raddish or parsnips. There is also a lot of dried meat and dried sausages involved.

In terms of drinks they use a lot of Corcha, water or the milk of cows and goats. They also experiment a lot with different plants or nuts, but uh...lets say it isn't working so good right now. They have strong liquor and something the northern clans would call mead, but it is made out of nuts and not of honey.

The bit of corn they can get is imported and most of it is used in nobel and royal kitchens, at least the wheat corn and flour. There is also corn for grey bread or sour bread and it is also a thing. Bread made from yeast with nuts is a common favourite.

Naming

There are only two naming conditions in Vraitha. Females start with "Vr" like Vraitha, Vrinis and such and males with "Tr" like Trisis, Triosma or Truola.

That is also seen in their naming conventions of places. Settlements of all kinds like villages, cities, towns etc. are female named and things like mines, rivers, mountains male named.

Traditions & Rites

There are a few major traditions in Vraitha. One is the wedding tradition with the Espouse dagger. Their funeral tradition evolves around burning on pyres after being oiled in herbalist oils.

In the morning most people thank their deity for the next day and the passing of the night and in the evening they thank their deity for the past day and wish for a good night without horrors or just bad dreams. It is a cycle and so every deity is thanked and wished for.

There is also the birthday rite which means that the mothers are getting thanked and praised with cakes, meals and presents for the children they have brought into the world with pain, screams and blood.

They praise the summer and winter solstice as well as the northern clans and other countries with festivities.

When a girl reaches her adulthood around 14 years - 15 for boys - , they get a party with meals, hopes and flower-crowns made by the entire male family to praise her. Priests are "ascending" her into her adulthood with the words of the Mother and the Father. The party for the boys is a bit toned down, but basically they fight, get touched by the Sword of the Father and "ascend" into adulthood as well. Most of them get their first chainmail or a weapon.

One of the smaller traditions is the traditional singing while cooking. Be it in large kitchens or just at home to please the Mother of Ravens because she likes it.

Tales

"In other nations they think that a happy wife makes a happy life. This is true in Vraitha too, but a happy man makes the life of the wife even better. A happy man works hard, is a good warrior, a good husband and wonderful father. You wouldn't see the difference to other nations at the first, but you can clearly see that the men are doing most of the work and move differently around their girls and wives. And yes, polyamour relationships are a thing here. What would a man be without a woman in his life?"

— Dairy of a traveler

"You know, I traveled aplenty throughtout the decades, young man. I saw Selkies, I saw Mermaids, Sirens and even Krakens. I laid eyes on naked elves and murderous druids and those Vraithians... well, you could say they are as beautiful as they are harsh. Just like the northern clans and their Frost Maiden or their Ember King. Treat all of them - especially the women - with respect and they show you how good you can have it in their homes. But if you don't... tsk. They are as fearsome as the Magmakin without their power of fire and that means a lot."

— Old merchant of the Divine Feast

"The higher up you travel in the ranks of Vraitha, the more beautiful the people get. I don't mean only the women, but the men too. Skin, hair, eyes. The higher you get, the more the clothes vanish, the knowledge raises, but also the noses and sometimes the attitude. Don't get me wrong, they don't treat you like an insect even if you were. But they let you feel that they are indeed nobility or royalty and that you should watch your tongue. If you can get them to like or be even friends with you, they use their tongues not only for speaking or show you secrets and techniques in terms of armour and magic you don't even find at the Universities."

— Nobel Ambassador to their partner

"The throne room is surprisingly bright and colourful. What I didn't expected were the four thrones and the royal family. The Mistress and her consort had four children, evenly divided into boys and girls. The youngest ones were standing next to the thrones and had nothing to sit on, even the young girl. What threw me off was that the oldest princess - 21 summer, I think - had her right chest exposed to everyone and was strangely content with it. The mother wore a sorry excuse of a silken dress which showed her entire upper body to everyone as well, but Consort and sons were fully dressed in valuable clothes and not one bit of skin was shown, except for the face.

Lets say it has the desired effect to throw me and the other nobles off and in hindsight the Mistress got everything she wanted. I wouldn't complain either, to be honest. And it shows how the power in Vraitha is distributed. Consort and sons didn't even talked once without getting asked or adressed."

— Flabbergasted nobleman telling his wife about his travel to Vraitha

Maps

• 

  Vrasathra City Map

  Map of the Capital of Vraitha, the city of Vrasathra.

Clothing

Nearly everything in Vraitha is made out of fur, linen and wool because they have it aplenty. Normal dresses, underwear if needed and working clothing is made out of linen, accompanied by sheep wool and goat fur. More complicated works costs a little bit more, but are also made out of fine linen, carefully picked sheep wool and are coloured if necessary.
The priests (normally all females, some of them males) wear colourful, floor-length dresses in all colours of the rainbow and attend both deities, sometimes on a rotation, so that there is no "competition" between those two and their followers.

Normal Female Clothing of Vraitha by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Formal Female Clothing of Vraitha by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Formal Weaponised Female Clothing of Vraitha by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Normal Male Clothing of Vraitha by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Formal Male Clothing of Vraitha by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Military Male Clothing of Vraitha by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Priests of Vraitha by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Trading

Trading in general is outsourced to the merchant guild Divided Feast because they have the infrastructure and contacts outside of Vraitha. Local merchants are allowed to trade for 10% of their monthly gross income, but most won't do it, let outsider have the dangerous task on their side.

Import

They import basically everything which is corn, but there is also silk, chocolate, satin, luxury jewelry, tools, crystal ware like glasses, but also certain types of wood, some weapons, some forms of meat and alcohol. Sometimes even rice from the Garladan, but they have special trading conditions so trading isn't happening much between the nations. More trade for rice is brokered through the Divided Feast merchant guild.

Export

Jewelry, pottery, wool, fur, dresses, clothing in general, luxury items, drinking horns like the northern clans, their alcohol, fermented food or a lot of their beets.

Military

As you can see above there are only a few military units. Most of the warriors - male and female alike - are trained in close quarter combat, in the shieldwall, with spear, sword, axe and bows. There are only a few individuals who are armed in a different way (like the Mistress' guard), but they are the exception. The best a warrior or shieldmaiden of Vraitha wears is chainmail between layers of fur and cloth/linen. Which makes them formidable and fast-fighting warriors and horrible opponents because they train to use the weak spots of enemies like neck, kneecaps or everything the different types of armour don't cover. For this training scouts are traveling the lands and try to get their hands on weapons and armours from every race there is. You never know when you need that knowledge.

One of Seven

Vraitha is - despite being a female-lead kingdom (or maybe because of it?) - a member of the Alliance of the Seven Kingdoms like Sufrunya. Their trained military is a good addition to the Alliance itself and their Bluewings as the infantry are a force one should recognise.

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Leader

Vrinis

Head of State

Vrinis

Head of Government

Vrinis

Controlled Territories

• Mistress' Return
• Royal Palace of Vraitha

Related Species

• Human