Ar Pentin

The Ar Pentin family are the spiritual, if not legal, leaders of the Aiata people. They once ruled in royal right, but the days of their monarchy passed in the long ages when the Sheven Empire subjugated their people. Today, they possess only sacred responsibilities, and provide wisdom to the new democracy.

History

The Ar Pentin family claims descent from Xewkan, or Cina Ang as they call them. They were initially missionaries of Cina Ang, a cadet house of the royal family of Enoro, an ancient principality on the coast of what is now Serono. Their members migrated to the Elebih peninsula to spread the word of their god, and they became deeply entrenched in the local society. They built the monastery-castle of Rejasti in the 10th century, and became local rulers of the district. The extinction of the ruling line of the peninsula in the mid 1000s led to their election as rulers of the Aiata people by the nobility, who saw them as the most neutral option to avoid a civil war.
They continued in that role until the 24th century, leading the Aiata people in a stable and peaceful millennium of civilisation. Their people prospered and traded across the seas, connecting the continents. But the Sheven Empire grew in time, conquering the small principalities of the fertile coasts. Elebih came under threat from the Sheven's conquering gaze in the 2300s. Though the Ar Pentin had led their people to prosperity, the Aiata had rarely gone to war, and were agrarian people.
The semi-peaceful (if unwilling) absorption of the Aiata people into the Sheven territories allowed the Ar Pentin's matriarchs to offer support to their people, and at least as much as possible, spare them from the ravages of a war. The Ar Pentin lived on as religious leaders, participating in the priesthood of Cina Ang, and significant local landowners.
This age was long, and many of their citizenry thought them weak for bowing down to the Sheven Emperors. Aiata culture was degraded and looked like it might fade, yet the family stood by their people. They provided charity, cultural resources, they sheltered sacred texts and religious clergy from the Sheven's eye, and with the fall of the Sheven Empire in the 29th century, their people were freed.
The Ar Pentin did not resume their throne, but supported the creation of a new democracy of the Aiata people. The Seventh Republic of Elebih rose in their place, and their people could prosper again.

Members

The present matriarch of the Ar Pentin family is Kua Nita Ar Pentin. She is without issue, and so the the heir presumptive is her niece, Uan Nita Ar Pentin, the daughter of her brother. The family title is passed down in the female line in most cases. Presently, they are termed the Princes of the Aiata, a title without land or government, but with great respect.