Istragan

"No army undefeated, no land unconquered, no sky unseen, no end to Dawn."
~ Imperial Motto of Artax IV

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

Kharys
Aletya
Alecto
Farah
Khadya
Artemya

Masculine names

Daryan
Skandro
Kuros
Jehann
Akhtar
Artax

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Istragan was the common language of the Empire, a tongue derived from a mixture of languages from the river plains where the city grew up. For all matters of law and for the royal court, Draconic was the preferred language, and many surviving inscriptions are in both Istragan and Draconic.

Shared customary codes and values

Istragan culture valued strength and honor (familial first, then personal) above all. One might suffer humiliation or insult for the good of one's family, but insult to family demanded satisfaction. Personal duels were common among the Istragan elite long before the Empire.

As the realm grew, Istragans invested much of this heightened sense of familial honor and duty in the insitution of the Empire itself. As such, a challenge to the Empire required an answer, largely explaining the constant warfare that seems to characterize what we can tell of the latter days of the Empire. In surviving records, Emperors always justify their wars with some appeal to the  "honor of all Istragos."

Average technological level

During their Imperial period, the Istragan culture achieved unimaginable heights of arcane and mechanical technology, achieving things that are incomprehensible in our darkening world. Of these, the Sea Wards are the best known. Even with the preservation work of Emberhold, there is much that the Empire achieved that will never be fully understood.

Art & Architecture

Istragan art and architecture favored delicacy and light. High domes pierced with skylights and narrow spires reaching toward the skies dotted the skyline of Imperial Cities. Art was bright and colorful, using as many pigments as possible. Where it could be afforded, pigments were brought from across the Empire in a show of Imperial wealth and dominance. Statues and mosaics of Emperors were a constant in Istragan cities, and coiling draconic figures were worked as patterns into the facades of buildings and used in the illumination of manuscripts.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Cremation was the preferred habit of the Istragan aristocracy. Those of high enough rank might beg the privilege of having their pyre lit by dragonfire. Common Istragans usually managed with a simple wood pyre.

Common Myths and Legends

The Epic of Istrago is a long epic verse narrative that tells of the hero Istrago, his flight from his home in the west after its destruction by the Dominion of Assura, and the founding of the city of Istragos with the aid of a dragon-companion. It is the most important surviving Istragan legend.

Historical figures

Istrago I - the semi-legendary founder of the city of Istragos who formed the first pact with a dragon.
Khoras I - First ruler of the Istragan Empire and builder of the Sea Wards.
Artax IV - Warrior-Emperor and Philosopher-Poet; Many of his books have been preserved at Emberhold, but he is best known for a series of wars fought to pacify Zhaporia.
Symara I - An early Queen of the city-state of Istragos and the city's first clearly historical ruler
Shalim - "The Prophet"; founder of Shalimism and creator of the Emberhold Archive

Related Locations

• Istragos
• Mordâd
• Ramshackle
• The Dragonwastes
• The Free Cities