Kalio
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POPULATION: 2 MILLION
RELIGION: The Kal-kah
ETHNIC GROUPS: Ulotˈta, Tarˈka
LANGUAGES SPOKEN: KAHREOL - 1.5M / Tarels - 300K / VAIRUVAND - 200K
CURRENCY: Sahm (0.8, S)
CAPITAL: Mesokor (Arsequains)
Depending on who you ask, Kalio is either an off-brand version of Kahrilo, or a plucky nation that chose to go it alone and reinvent itself. The word “Kalio” actually means “Kahrilo” – Home of the Word – only spoken with the unique accent of the region. This minute distinction, however, is exactly the cause of the schism that led it to seek independence from its motherland. Language is the heart of the issue. The Kah religion holds that language itself originated in Kahrilo, in the holy city of Kahnicalon. Given the sacred nature of the tongue, protections enshrined in law aim to keep it from ever changing. Further, women are regarded as much closer to the source of the power contained in language; accordingly, in Kahrilo, female priestesses dominate spiritual as well as civil life. Men are mere custodians of property. The people of now-Kalio didn’t start off by taking issue with ideological underpinnings of the faith. They just happened to talk a little differently than their southern compatriots. But inexorable drift set in as the Priestesshood applied stiffer and stiffer penalties to this great “transgression”, and soon their northern devotees began to dream of a path that served them better. At first, priestesses on their own side proposed expanded models of language that accounted for dialectical difference. That didn’t work. From here, suggestions only grew more radical, until at last, fundamental articles of worship became targets of change. In the end, with overwhelming popular consent, northern clerics rebranded as The Kal-kah in UT 365. The original Priestesses instantly declared them a heretical sect, but stopped short of full-out conflict as a tool for addressing this. While astonishing, many believe this decision was made in hopes of attracting them back to the fold, especially in light of Kahrilo’s increasingly tenuous political and economic strength vis-à-vis the Uvan Empire, whose regime grows more powerful every day. Though Kalio’s two “ethnic groups”, the Ulotˈta and Tarˈka – women and men, respectively – preserve on the surface the distinctions of the parallel Luloyˈsa and Hedöˈte of Kahrilo, the men of Kalio enjoy many more freedoms, their legal status nearly on par with females. They are permitted to hold positions of office and can even join the clergy, though barred from its highest ranks. Women, too, despite retaining the reins of power, tend to view men here more as equals than underlings. The country’s situation on Lake Jdail may explain certain aspects of this shift as well, due to the less autocratic countries along its waters and the ideas that travel across maritime trade routes. Kalio is in general more sympathetic to Relan sensibilities, and vice versa, to the extent The Council of Landezon has even managed to convince its leaders to permit a Stronghold on their land. Like Kahrilo, Kalio lies largely in the Autumn Yield, a zone which makes it difficult for mages to cast, and while public sentiment may still skew against magic and those who practice it, there is a heightened appreciation here for the strategic value in this partnership, given the protection it affords against bad actors, such as The Hex.
Sign of the Onˈsın
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