Avenar
History
The ancestors of the Avenarians originated on the continent of Oskara. During the Bloom Age, they lived among their own deities, but the millennia since their migration have erased the specific memory of their homeland and the names of their gods; only fragmented rituals and symbols remain.
Fleeing the conflicts of the Blood Age, the Avenarians arrived as refugees on the western coast of Anterra around 1,317 BDA. They found themselves caught in the long-standing war between the Aos Sí and the Fomorians. After initial hostilities with the Fomorians, the Avenarians allied with the Aos Sí out of necessity. In a successful joint campaign with their new allies, they pushed the Fomorians eastward and conquered the vast coastal territories that now constitute the nation of Avenar.
The dynamic of the war shifted during the Blight Age. As their Aos Sí allies weakened, the Avenarians became the sole military leaders of the alliance. However, after centuries of conflict, the Fomorians had adapted their tactics. They halted the Avenarian advance, and the war devolved into the grinding stalemate that persists to this day, with both sides fighting over the same contested borderlands.
Today, Avenar is a nation built on conquered land. Its people control the ancient Fomorian megalithic sites within their borders and have adopted the deities bound to those sanctums as their own. Defined by its deep alliance with the declining Aos Sí and the perpetual war against the Fomorians, Avenar remains a pre-industrial society fighting to hold the lands it seized millennia ago.
Government
The Avenarian government is, in effect, an aristocratic puppet state. While a council of its founding noble houses, An Ard-Fheis, manages the day-to-day affairs of the nation, ultimate authority rests with the resident Aos Sí Ard-Brithem (High Judge). This regent is appointed for life and serves as the final arbiter, a system originally designed to give the Avenarians the benefit of the Aos Sí's long memory and wisdom.
For centuries, this system was a source of stability, as the position was held by one of the Na Clúitigh, who would willingly claim the life-long role as their duty. However, due to the Aos Sí's decline, the current Na Clúitigh are uninterested in what they have deemed a centuries-long babysitting appointment. The most recent appointee, Odhrán Ó Fhlaithbheartaigh, is an Ard-Brithem whose most notable qualification is his willingness to take a position none of the truly meritorious would accept. This has eroded the Avenarian nobility's faith in their allies' wisdom, undermining a system that has existed for millennia.
Interesting Facts
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To strengthen their alliance and pass on ancient knowledge, it has become a tradition for Avenarian nobles to send their children to be fostered and trained by the Aos Sí. These human children are raised in Ryhoreiral, learning Aos Sí history, art, and their unique methods of warfare. This practice ensures that the Aos Sí's wisdom is not lost as their own numbers dwindle and creates a deep, familial bond between the leaders of the two allied peoples.
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A Llinach is the core of Avenarian society, a structure more akin to a quasi-military clan than a noble house. It includes not only the noble family but also their sworn retainers and all common folk who live on their lands. Loyalty is pledged to the Llinach first and Avenar second, a reality that exacerbates the political fractures between the dynasties.
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Having forgotten their own Oskaran history, the Avenarians are culturally obsessed with preserving their new history in Anterra. Each Llinach employs scribes and lore-keepers to chronicle every battle, political decision, and family lineage in detail. The ability to accurately recite one's own deeds and the deeds of one's ancestors is considered a political skill, a cultural fixation that has become more tedious with the passing of time.
Current Challenges
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Fomorian War. The Avenarians are locked in a military stalemate with the Fomorians. The conflict is both external and internal; while their armies fight to hold the western border, the nation's leadership must constantly struggle to motivate a war-weary populace that has no memory of the original conquest and little appetite for the nobility's goals of total victory.
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Aos Sí Dependency. The Avenarian alliance with the Aos Sí has become a political liability. The appointment of an unimpressive Ard-Brithem has undermined the Aos Sí's role as wise counsel, creating a power vacuum within the Avenarian government. Ambitious noble houses now openly question the alliance, creating internal fractures that threaten to destabilize the state.
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Coastal Blight. Avenar's focus on the land war has left its long coastline vulnerable to Navrow raiders and Navtog slavers. These technologically superior groups do not seek to conquer, but to bleed Avenar dry, raiding settlements for food, valuables, and captives. This has turned the coast into a dangerous region, forcing the Avenarian government to choose between reinforcing its coastline or weakening its main war effort against the Fomorians.
Llinach of Avenar
Avenar is home to a number of Llinach [HLEE-nakh], whose leaders form the ruling An Ard-Fheis. The most powerful among them trace their lineage to the leaders of the original refugee fleet during the Blood Age. While, historically, the dynasties were able to focus on a common enemy in the form of the Fomorians, striations have formed, creating tenuous and often sizable conflicts between these lineages. With the weakening of the Aos Sí Ard-Brithem, political rivalries have been allowed to take root, threatening the foundations of their cooperative efforts.
Llinach Bevan
A powerful founding dynasty whose secure, central lands produce much of the food and iron that supply the eastern armies. They are the most vocal hawks in the Ard-Fheis, always demanding the war effort be intensified. In reality, a decisive victory or a negotiated peace would be a financial disaster for them. Perpetuating the stalemate for as long as possible ensures their lucrative war contracts continue indefinitely.
Llinach Griffith
A "new noble" house, granted a seat on the Ard-Fheis centuries ago for their heroic efforts in the war. They are looked down upon by the founding houses for their lack of an ancient bloodline. As a result, they are aggressively meritocratic and use the Aos Sí's own culture as a political weapon, arguing that, like the Na Clúitigh, their proven merit and success in the war should grant them more power and influence than the ancient but less competent founding houses.
Llinach Lloyd
This house's power is based on the western coastal territories, far from the Fomorian war. Their entire focus is on defending against Navrow slavers and pirates. They are the only house with direct experience fighting against black powder weapons, which has made them pragmatic and secretly contemptuous of the Ard-Fheis's refusal to modernize. They see the eastern war as winnable if Ard-Fheis would put aside the Aos Sí refusal to adopt the technology that would swing the war in their favor.
Llinach Morgan
Known for its ties to the Aos Sí, House Morgan sends the most candidates to be fostered in Ryhoreiral. Publicly, they are the staunchest champions of the alliance. In reality, their deep integration has shown them the full extent of their allies' decline. They believe the Aos Sí are doomed to fade away, and their long-term goal is to absorb Ryhoreiral's lands and legacy, positioning themselves as the rightful inheritors of a culture they have successfully infiltrated.
Llinach Yorath
This house's lands are on the eastern Fomorian front, where they have borne the brunt of the fighting for centuries. Generations of thankless, attritional warfare has made them war-weary and cynical. They believe the war is unwinnable, having witnessed the grinding halt of their advance and the gathering momentum of Khunland’s armies. They have begun reaching out to negotiate a settlement, an act of treason, but an act they believe is the only path to saving Avenar from bleeding to death.