Kaliset

Kaliset was a theocratic city state ruled for much of its history by the clergy of the sun-goddess Kereset, She Who Gazes to Both Horizons. It was located in the Vixion Plains, near to the location of modern-day Colisettio, and is understood as having been founded somewhere between 220 and 275 years before the First Founding, approximately 3000 years Pre-Kataris.
According to Tdjaia'ucchan, it was one of the nations which joined the alliance of the Lone Flame of Alversa.

The People of Kaliset

Originally known as Kel Ishetu - a phrase in an archaic Preclassical Tevashi language meaning "Place of the Sun" - the city is believed to have been founded around 3,000 years pre-AK. The Chronicles of Vash Edom refer to "wine and oil from Kel Ishetu, where Teoth son of Zaphnath had built his hold" being presented as gifts for the coronation of King Lugal-Ellek, which is conventially dated at 217 years Before First Founding (2,979 years pre-AK).
The culture who founded Kel Ishetu are known as the Shetin, though the city seems to have become increasingly cosmopolitan over the centuries. Later grave inscriptions bear names similar to those of the ancient Ljotis people, who dwelled in the mountains and valleys to the east, and who are believed to be the ancestors of the people of Viraky and Ciromia. Early accounts state that the Ljotis were the slaves of the Shentin, and claims that a form of ethnically-based chattal slavery was practiced in Kel Ishetu; however some modern scholars have put forward a view that whilst there was certainly evidence of slavery in Kaliset, the slaves of the Shetin were almost exclusively prisoners taken in battle, and were certainly considered people rather than chattel. Indeed, the increasing number of Ljotisi names on later inscriptions concerning priestly matters show that there were at least some Ljotisi in Kaliset who had achieved high social status in their lives.

The Religion of Kaliset

For most of its history, Kereset was the principle deity worshiped in Kaliset. Kereset was seen as the goddess of the sun in its aspect as a granter of life and warmth, but with the possibility of fire and ruin; she represented birth and death, creation and destruction. The Shetin had a number of other deities, though less is known of them; in the early period these include the shadow-demon Alem-Yakhet, the god of the dead Nemet, the god of the wilderness Nazta-Akhet, and the goddess of wisdom Sepunteret. All were seen as ultimately supporting Kereset and subservient to her - even the foul and greatly-feared Alem-Yakhet, who devoured the souls of the unrighteous dead. In later years, two other cults have been described which are believed to correspond with of the gods worshipped in the Empire of Kataris millenia later: whilst in accordance with the Katari taboo against uttering or writing the name of the divine they were never named in the Compendium of Kolis Etion, scholars have gathered enough information to identify these Shetin deities as the war goddess Seneret, corresponding to the Warrior, and the trickster deity Thanu, corresponding to the Poet.
From perhaps 500FF onwards Kereset’s pre-eminence began to fade, and the prominence of another sun god began to rise. The name and nature of this second sun-god has never been entirely clear; the Compendium of Kolis Etion refers to him by titles including “Undying Sun”, “He-Who-Is-Truth”, “He-Of-Infinite-Vision” and “Steed of Heaven”, but records that his temples had long been sacked when the Katari first came to Kolis Etion. In the Kaliset Apocrypha, Eusabio di Sala di Collisetio speculated that this deity may have represented the sun in its aspect of revelation and purification - the blazing light that drives out shadows and exposes the works of the wicked, the deliverer of the Divine Law and the enforcer of the cosmic hierarchy. In absence of any evidence to suggest what the name of this god might be, they have conventionally been labelled as the “New Cult”. Though Eusebio never explicitly stated it, there are certain parallels with the Lost God of the Sun worshiped by the Savu millenia later - though as so little is recorded of the Lost God, it is hard to say for certain.
Based on the recently unearthed Words of Sikaryam Against the Heirophant of Kaliset, it might be speculated that the name of the god of the New Cult was Sathrazapash.

The Fall of Kaliset

Several hundred years after the First Founding, Kaliset was beset by a great disaster, the nature of which is unclear. Several versions of the story are given; the most common is that they turned against the gods, who struck down the city with a great drought for their impiety. Some versions state that the destruction of Kaliset was specifically for the crimes of the Hierophant, high priest of the New Cult: the sins vary, but the most common is that the Hierophant declared his judgment to be more authoritative than the direct revelation of Kereset.
A more mundane explanation, favoured by some scholars, is given by the theory that the city fell into civil war following rising tensions between the cults of Kereset and the cult of the Hierophant, and that this may have perhaps been occasioned by a drought. Another explanation, said by Tdjaia'ucchan to be the truth as understood by the Web of Shadows, involves the Paragons of Azoth, and is discussed below.
Precisely when this event occurred is unclear; fragmentary scrolls unearthed in the ruins have mentioned Tzim Tevash being plunged into civil war following the assassination of King Haziz abd Tebnizet  of Vash Edom, which occurred in 673FF (2089 years pre-AK most scholars believe that Kaliset was destroyed at some point after the dwarven Interregnum (2089 pre-AK to around 2085 pre-AK), but probably no later than 2,000 years before the rise of the Empire of Kataris.
The Compendium of Kolis Etion records that the site of the city was left unoccupied for several centuries before the Katari took control of the Vixion Plains, and that the area's inhabitants believed the ruins to be cursed. The compendium records that a "temple of the sun" remained at the site - likely the Temple of Kereset, all that remains of which in the modern era is a series of underground chambers interconnecting with natural caves that lead under the Lago di Coletta - and that a number of artefacts were unearthed there, including "a sword of unusual metal, the blade and hilt bisected lengthways from tip to pommel", "a clay tablet inscribed with spiralling glyphs, which plagued the dreams of those who lay beside it", and "a bronze sphere inscribed with numerous lines and indentations, the manipulation of which could open secret roads". What became of these artefacts is unknown.
By 30AK a town of Kolis Etion had been constructed by the Katari around the ruins of Kaliset, though it would later be plundered and abandoned in 543AK when the Katari Empire fell into chaos  . It was resettled in the mid 7th century AK, and is now the site of the town of Colisettio.

The Prophecy

Today, Kaliset is most well-known for a prophecy found in the Compendium of Kolis Etion, said to have been translated from a sacred inscription found at the site. The traditional version of the prophecy, when translated into the common tongue, runs as follows:

1. As you have been most welcoming and hospitable, so shall all in turn be welcoming and hospitable to you,
2. And as you have been most generous and merciful, so shall all in turn be generous and merciful to you.
3. I offer you my blessing as I pass by, oh divided people of the sun:
4. That you be united in peace and in hope: the last child of humanity to pass the door of death some day is in your city born.

These verses are popularly attributed to a minor deity called Anwet, who has sometimes been said to be the Shetin goddess of travellers - though many scholars considered this entirely speculative, as there is no direct attestation to this deity outside of a single comment in the Compendium. Historically they have been interpreted to mean that the final human to ever die would some day be born in Collisetio.
Whilst this was long thought to be the definitive prophecy, Eusabio di Sala di Collisetio writes in the Kaliset Apocrypha that during his research he came across a description of a stone stele that had been taken from Kolis Etion during the site’s destruction in 543AK. This stone, which reportedly bore an inscription upon it that spoke of the blessings of the goddess Anwet, is said to have been offered in sacrifice at the High Temple of the Healer following the destruction of Kolis Etion. Intrigued, Eusabio looked into the matter further, and after corresponding with a number of scholars concluded that the stele may have been taken to the sacred spring in the now-ruined holy city of Skatha Pangration, where a shrine to Ekirena the Midwife now existed. Visiting Skatha Pangration in 1323AK, he was at length granted permission to descend into the healing well, and found there the stele on which the prophecy had been recorded, which had lain undisturbed in the well for centuries. His book contains an engraving that shows the original stele with its pictographic engravings, a version transliterated into the High Tongue of the Giants and written using the dwarven runes, a second version then transliterated from the runes into the common alphabet, and this translation, claimed to be significantly more accurate than the original:

1. And it was at that time that Anwet came from the eastern mountains, hobbling on a crooked stick, crying out that she sought shelter. But she bore the Mark of the Apostate, and to this end the guards refused to let her pass through the sacred gate, or set foot inside the City of the Sun, lest she defile the holy place with her evil.
2. And being so refused, she snapped her stick and threw it to the ground, and biting her tongue she spat blood upon the gate, cursing it with these words
3. “All that you have offered me as welcome and hospitality, you shall be offered in turn
4. All that you have been generous and merciful, so shall you be granted in turn
5. I give you my blessing, O People of the Broken Sun, as I turn from you:
6. I bind you all for your faithful indifference - that the last to pass the deadly-gates, of your city and some day of humanity, is born.
7. My blessing upon you, that you may walk with your gods

The Paragon Connection

According to Tdjaia'ucchan, the Paragon known to the Web of Shadows as Ulibor was a priest in the city of Kaliset; she related that the city suffered from a terrible drought and famine, which Ulibor's god claimed to have sent due to their laxity in worship. It is said that the city sacrificed everything to appease their god - but it had been a lie, and the god had neither sent the famine, nor could save them from it.
Based on the Words of Sikaryam Against the Heirophant of Kaliset and certain geneological scrolls found in Vash Ossai, it appears that an alliance of sorts was present between Kaliset and Vash Ossai since the reign of Queen Erishabat (340FF to 499FF, or 2,422 pre-AK to 2,263 pre-AK), and that this was called upon in 2096 pre-AK by the Heirophant of Kaliset, to provide aid for a "great endeavour". Though the nature of this "great endeavour" is not specified in Sikaryam's denunciation, it is said to have wrecked immeasurable harm upon the world, and led to the emergence of the Primordial Annihilator Alkahest - which may imply that this was in fact the Shattering of the Azoth.
The archive of the Anima of Vash Ossai, when asked for information on the Ninth Paragon, made mention of the Solar Archon "Kereshet"; whilst contextual details were somewhat lacking, this might potentially indicate a connection between the Ninth Paragon and the Kaliseti goddess Kereset.
The final line of the Prophecy as recorded in the Kaliset Apocrypha echoes a line from the "Naxorian Fragment" of the Fragment of Storms, specifically that relating to the blessings of the Hag Queen. Whilst Eusabio was no expert on the Paragons or on the Fragment of Storms, and did not make the link himself, this line, combined with the general tone of the prophecy, might be read as implying that "Anwet" is merely another name for the First Paragon - and perhaps that she was somehow involved in the city's destruction.

Approx. 3,000 years pre-AK - Between 2,089 and approx. 2,000 years pre-AK

Type

Geopolitical, State

Alternative Names

Kel Ishetu, City of the Sun

Demonym

Shetin

Leader Title

Hierophant of Kaliset

Deities

• Alem-Yakhet
• Anwet
• Kereset
• Nazta-Akhet
• Nemet
• Sathrazapash
• Seneret
• Sepunteret
• Thanu

Location

Vixion Plains

Related Ethnicities

• Ljotis
• Shetin