Arialor

The theocratic kingdom of Arialor. It is located in the west of Manniskar, around the Guardian peaks. This civilization is quite fanatical when it comes to their beliefs. It's name is derived from their religion, Arialism.

Already deep north into the harsh regions of Manniskar, this kingdom is filled with superstition, fear and fanaticism. Women are marginalized in the society and priests wield an enormous amount of power.

The Arch-Priest and King Sargon One-Eye used to be a raving madman that claimed to have had visions and that he ruled accordingly to the will of Arior, the great god of Larianor. Yet, he died in 1015 as his health deteriorated and his lunacy became worse. He was succeeded shortly by Remus Ervyk, a much more ambitious and composed ruler, with promises of expansion and prosperity for the kingdom. Amongst his first measures as Arch-Priest was the restructuring of the kingdom's inquisition, in an attempt to hunt down heretics and magic practitioners.

Structure

Arialor's power structure comprises of a strict pyramid scheme in which priests and bishops hold the majority of the power. Instead of feudal lords or mayors, the cities and counties are overseed by the overseeing bishop. Knights respond to the Arialist church and their vows are done before a statue of Arior, as they vow to serve the Crown as they serve God himself.

History

Arialor was founded in 986 when the Snadovian governor and warden of the eastern lands, Sargon Ivan † established a rebellion against the crown and declared independance. A bloody civil war was fought with the newly founded kingdom suffering major losses, mostly of conscripts and peasants that got caught as collateral damage of the Snadovian onslaught. The conflict ended when the Snadovian King was assassinated, supposedly, by a Larian angel, an event that caused Snadov to surrender unconditionally. Finally, the war went down in history as the War of the Prophet, a reference to Sargon's infamous episodes of lunacy, in which he claimed to have received messages from Arior himself.

Laws

Being a theocracy, the laws of Arialor derive strongly fromthe Arialist holy book, the Tome of Aeons, which dictates, amongst other things, that each individual holds a divine purpose within the kingdom. In practice, this dictates that the social mobility is almost inexistent and the power is kept tightly in the hands of the clergy. Moreover, another law follows the principle of Larianor's sovereign domain and superiority over reality, which in practice serves as a means of prohibiting magic and its study.

Moreover, Arialor also possesses a rather unique cerimony of justice, in which the defendant put under trial with capital punishment stands over a platform with a chopping block, with a large disk of either bronze or gold getting placed right beneath the block, depicting the seven pointed star of Arior. The trial is held during late night and lasts until dawn, upon which the rising sun will shine upon the disk set beneath the defendant - if they're innocent, the light reflects towards them, symbolizing the forgiving light of God. If the disk reflects upwards, missing the defendant, they're deemed guilty and the sentence is carried out.

Trade & Transport

The kingdom sits atop large reserves of iron ore and coal, the latter which is getting bought by dwarves in the Guardian Peaks. Arialor also holds the largest quarries for stone and marble in the continent, which represents the majority of their exports. Other trades intensely practised in the kingdom are: cheese-making, animal husbandry, cotton and grain farming.