Rhayelle

Rhayelle is a seaborn country filled with island cities, sandy beaches, and a strong navy. The Rhayellens were the first people to ever settle on Vhon Mangir. They were strangely born away from both the Gold and Silver trees and instead birthed from the water. This leads them to have a much stronger connection to the ocean the most people. They are very militaristic and their cities are built for maximum defensive efficiency. They are known for having won in the war with Adaram, taking over their cities and lands. Many of the people from Velgoran fear their military might and harsh, foreign practices.

Structure

Rhayelle is ruled like an army. Their head of the government is known as the "Wave Emperor" and they are in charge of all government and military actions. They take advice from the council they form but in the end, the Wave Emperor is the final say so in everything and their word is the law. The Emperor will serve until he dies in combat or he is no longer fit for combat. Once this happens the title will be given to the next soldier who is deemed to be the best for the job by the Wave Emperor's council.

Culture

The Rhayellen culture has changed a lot as time has gone on and it is best summed up into three parts.

Militaristic Nature

Before the Rhayellens interacted with the other Velgoranian countries, they believed in a very unique singular god that was the master of the ocean and created all life. As they interacted with the other Velgoranians however, they realized that there were many other gods at play and so their religion adapted fairly quickly to include the newly found gods, though it was still a very unique version of the gods incongruous to the modern-day Istillian and Avellian practices. They believed that they wronged the gods for not originally including them in their pantheon so to make up for this great tragedy they sought to impress the gods in what they were good at, building boats and exploring. Since the Rhayellen islands are very dangerous as they explored they had to fight a lot of creatures, and they developed many great tactics for dealing with creatures stuck on land while they were in boats. This translated well into warfare and they became good at it. The Rhayellens became so good at war in fact, that they eventually wipe Adaram off of the map. Their utter dominance of the battlefield combined with their need to impress the gods led them to become very strict and domineering as a people. They all felt that their quest was so important that they could never slack off and they must remain sharp at all times. They took this idea to extremes even go so far as to execute all criminals for any crime committed at all, though after The Nadir and the practice of exiling criminals to the Dragon Bones begins the Rhayellens begin to distinguish crimes into two categories. "Mental" crimes are crimes that don't cause any physical harm or any physical damage but are still criminal such as impersonating an officer, making counterfeit money, or forging government documents. "Physical" crimes are crimes such as murder, rape, theft, and other crimes that involve physical action. Mental criminals are exiled to the Dragon Bones and physical criminals are executed.

People of the Sea

The Rhayellens are the only known creatures to not originate from either the gold or silver trees but instead, they are born from the ocean itself. This has lead to many unique cultural and physicological phenomena that specifically revolve around the ocean. Rhayellens love to swim and the ocean is a second home for them. Many old religious practices left over from their ancient beliefs involve swimming in the ocean to complete some sort of task such as slaying a shark or collecting coral from deep underwater. Rhayellens also often build their homes in such a way that allows water to cover the floor during the highest tidal position.

Land of Beauty

The Rhayellen islands offer such a large amount of different kinds of life to grow that as the early Rhayellens explored they became so fascinated by the life they found. Rhayellens are very well known for their biologists and understanding of plant and animal life. They also are well known for their paintings and drawings of the life that they find. Most people who travel to their country are stunned by art found all over the country.

Public Agenda

Rhayelle is a country built on military might and they use this might to impress the gods. They are also infatuated with the world around them and use their conquests as opportunities to explore the world around them.

History

Rhayelle was the first country ever founded and they were founded in isolation. They lived life on the islands loving to swim in the ocean and explore the world until eventually, they meet Adaram and their city on the Findol peninsula. Through their interactions with these new people, they began to understand that the great god of the ocean wasn't the only god that existed. This made the Rhayellens feel immense shame at not acknowledging the other gods for so long. To make up for their lack of knowledge they began a conquest of Adaram to impress the gods and prove that they were truly sorry for what they had done. The Rhayellens are successful in their war effort and they capture the capital of Adaram and all of its major cities. Satisfied with their victory, Rhayelle begins to finally live in relative peace for a while, settling on the rest of the islands and exploring to their heart's content. Eventually, they decide to explore eastward into the unknown. This proves to be a devastatingly terrible idea as after around 50 years of exploring their entire expedition team is wiped from existence by some strange evil mist that no one has ever gotten past. The loss is devastating for Rhayelle and since they believed the devastating tragedy could only be capable of the gods themselves, they decided that they must have wronged the gods. After they recover from the losses during the expedition, the Rhayellens begin to war with the other countries of the world to both explore areas where they have never been but also to prove to the gods yet again that they are worthy. Their raids and wars go on for many many years and they capture cities and lose cities until one day they are finally counter-raided by another country with a strong navy. They are so strong that they have to pull out of their war with the dwarfs and drastically weaken their efforts on Velgoran. Since then they have focused their efforts almost solely on the Lazuli Isles.