The Sun Blessed

Ones Who are Blessed by the Sun
Summary

Although fanatics are usually a bad thing, fanatics of a god as good as the Great Light is actually strangely ok. This sovereign faction embodies the concept of a beneficial religious kingdom. Once members of the Dawn Empire, they split apart from the Empire to seek out their own religious ideology in their chosen holy land on a nearby smaller continent. The Sun Blessed are a religious faction following the teachings of the Great Light and another divine from within the dawn empire pantheon with a tempered zeal. The main owner of the magical deposits of fire crystals, they are known for their overwhelming power since their faith grants them little fear of death. This was shown to the world on the day their City of Blessed Light was attacked by the Brighteaters. A vicious faction of sea raiders from the western continents, they attacked the Sun Blessed with a fleet of ships filled to the brim with raisers hoping to leave with their holds full of fire crystals. This was not the first time the Brighteaters sought out what they thought was a weak religious settlement. This time, the Sun Blessed were ready for them. They pushed back the invaders from their holy land and retaliated by utterly decimating the Brighteaters, wiping their existence from the maps and claiming their settlement in the name of the Great Light.

Citizens

The citizens of the land of the Sun Blessed are the same as citizens of the Dawn Empire. Mostly humans, dwarfs, and merfolk. However, they do have a much greater percentage of humans in their population. The citizens abide to the same cultural norms as the Empire they originated from. for example; the love of their rulers, veneration of all of their gods, and their respect for individual achievements. However, more focus is place on the tenets of the Great Light and most venerate him as their main deity.

Culture

The culture of the Sun Blessed is heavily based on the tenets of the great light. While they still maintaining the idea of respect through achievements from their parent land, it is also given more respect when those achievements honor the Great Light in some way. Most of the people are not fanatical to the point where it is annoying or even harmful, the best way to describe is the same way a wizard likes the arcane.

Political system

The political system of the Sun Blessed is strange to most. Half of their leadership is loyal to the Dawn Emperor, as they see both the Morninglord (the head of the Great Light's followers) and the Grand Inquisitor of Mystery (the head of the religion of the Forgotten Son of Light). They also adopted the council system of the Empire, but without an inner council and without seats given to nobility. More seats are given to citizen appointed leaders than the Empire, and 5 seats were added for people chosen by their leaders. However, they removed the seats for representatives of other religions.

Settlements

Radiant Vengeance: A small city that contains most of the barracks it also contains the main expedition camp within the Severed Paradise Island along with its mysteries. it also contains housing and commodities for all the soldiers who are stationed there.
The Gleaming Waves: A beautiful coastal town that acts as the main trading hub of the Sun Blessed nation. It has its own port and usually is populated with guards to protect the trade lanes. A beautiful place, sometimes a holiday destination for the wealthy of the Dawn Empire and other nearby nations.
The City of Blessed Light: The main city it holds the bulk of the citizens and also holds the main mine. They specialize in the mining of fire crystals, a resource unique to this land. It also is dotted with many churches of the Great Light and the Forgotten God. While the main temple of the Forgotten exists within this city, no attempt to raise a main cathedral dedicated to the Great Light. This is due to their already being one in the Dawn Empire and attempts to make another is seen as sacrilegious. The city also holds the council hall, and the main temple of the Forgotten God (named the Hall of Inquisition) that is a huge library filled with books and scholars attempting to discover more knowledge around this mysterious god.

Army

The army is surprisingly terrifying as they are trained mainly to eliminate otherworldly threats. A significant portion of their forces being made of paladins and clerics, they wear garb which is a mix between the armor an average soldier would wear decorated with religious garb and paraphernalia. Higher members of the army are called inquisitors. The heads of the Inquisition are part of the ruling council of the Sun Blessed, but only have power over the army and not the guard force. The rank of Grand Inquisitor is more of an informal title for their second leader as it is not a part of its official ranks. They are also split between three major ordos which are divisions that specialize in combating a specific threat.
Ordo Magus: A division specializing in combating arcane threats, either magical phenomena , magical creatures, or even the arcane wielders themselves. 
Ordo Exorcismus: A division specializing in combating otherworldly threats. They handle all manner of things brought through the Rifts no of this world. Areas that show frequent Rift openings will have a permanent detail of these soldiers located nearby. 
Ordo Militaris: The division specializing in the more mundane military threats. The Radiant Forces are the main policing forces of the sun-blessed wearing a similar mix between religious garb and practical armor. Their emblems show the symbol of the Great Light with a sword behind it. This emblem will be on each member of the Ordo Militarus somewhere on their person.
Ordo Regium: A minor Ordo within the Ordo Militaris, these members are all elite veterans which have been granted the holy duty of protecting the Grand Inquisitor.

Religion

The Sun Blessed worshiped the Great Light and his son, the mysterious god. Worship for the latter not as much true religious worship rather than research as this god has been forgotten. According to religious canon, he left the pantheon after splitting his domain between his two sibling deities. They also venerate the other gods of the Dawn Empire’s Pantheon, but without truly worshiping them. It is not a common thing for the other gods to be openly worshiped, but they are venerated for their relation to the Great Light and for that only.

Notable events

The Day of Vengeance: Is the day when the Sun Blessed were attacked by the Brighteaters, who were a hated enemy of them at that time, but were unsuccessfull and caused a retaliation attack from the Sun Blessed. In the end, the pirate crews were destroyed along with many of their records and ships.

The Day of the New Sun: The day which the sun-blessed gained their independence from the dawn empire and were recognized as a sovereign land.

Allies & Enemies

The Red Dawn Bond: An alliance between the Dawn Empire and the Sun Blessed. A defensive alliance stating they would help each other in the event of war. Also, in exchange for the exclusive import rights of fire crystals into the Empire, the people of the Sun Blessed will be given freedom to visit the religious sites of the Great Light within the Empire. As well as discrete help with their research into Forgotten God.

Notes

Ranks of the Inquisition: The ranks of the inquisition are acolyte, investigator, inquisitor, high inquisitor, lord inquisitor/Ordo Grand Master. Each Ordo Grand Master is given a title specific to their Ordo, rather than being called Ordo Grand Master. Only when talked about as a group would they be referred to as Ordo Grand Masters.
In times when the Dawn Empire trades with the Radiant Lands, the Red Fleet would accompany and assist in the supervision and security of the port and trade lines.
People who hear about the Sun Blessed usually get the wrong idea. They enter the Radiant Lands thinking it is a horrible place under the grip of tyrannical religious zealots. They are usually pleasantly surprised to find it to be this beautiful land inhabited by friendly people.
The Inquisition also sometimes assists the guards when there is no need for military action.
Much of the army of the Sun Blessed nation are co-trained by the Dawn Empire when asked for.
The Sun Blessed actually love the Dawn Emperor with almost as much veneration given to him as his own kingdom. They hold no malice towards him as he was the one who helped them to gain their independence and even helped them fight the Brighteaters before he rose to the throne.

Type

Geopolitical, Theocracy