Celenis

Celenis(sʌlɛnɪs), officially the The Divine Commonwealth of Celenis and Krell is a sovereign nation off the east coast of Solum. Its borders are contained by its shores, though it possesses a vassal state in Krell.

Celenis' terrain is chiefly a rocky island, however the island's surface sees ample fertile soils for agricultural use. Celenis is a Theocracy under the High Cleric of Light with its capital in Almyst, the country's largest city primary commercial center; other major urban areas include Braemar, [Nameable Town D], and [Nameable Town E].

Inhabited since the before the Calamity, Celenis was settled by Summum settlers during The Lost Years, and gained its sovereignty after the Sundering of Elyra. Its geographical and environmental separation from mainland Solum during The Age of Solitude saw it develop uniquely from its mainland counterparts steeped in war. Its theocratic ruling began early and the nation has remained a cornerstone of religious iconography since. The creation of the Great Stormseal and the settling of the Unbound Seas saw Celenis' influence in Solum surge, allowing its vassalizing of neighboring Krell.

Structure

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The Isles of Celenis have undergone rapid transformation over the past few centuries - a confluence of faith, mercantile ambitions, and political machinations that have turned a once simple system of governance into a complicated web of influence. While the church ostensibly rules supreme, the government apparatus that once placed a single High Cleric in the seat of supreme authority is no longer the norm. The followers of The Highlord now vie for control with leaders from other faiths, the various guilds, and Krell’s Circle of Light while fending off constant political and military assaults from rival nations. With the Three Virtues; Honesty, Integrity, and Perseverance, so prominent in how the leaders of Celenis operate, in spite of the nation’s complicated politics, pains are taken to ensure that all actions are transparent, and that the government upholds itself with enough integrity that its people can say they are happy to follow the state’s lead in all matters.

Politics

The office of High Cleric of the Light has long been the most powerful station in Celenis, a benevolent voice who exercises the will of their god and the people. On paper, the occupant of this office is determined every decade when the Isles run a census. It is the Chief Cleric of whichever religion is found to have the most followers who is elevated to the office, and that faith which is branded as the official state religion. Since the rise of prominence in Aeterius, not a single other religion has been able to amass the following necessary to wrest control of the office back from their followers. In the centuries of the Highlord’s primacy, very little reason has been given for this status quo to change.

While the leaders of religions aside from the Highlord do not wield quite the same degree of influence as that long dominant faith, it would be the wisdom of a fool to claim that they lack in influence. Every faith which is able to claim at least five percent of Celenis’ population under their banner is granted a seat on the High Council; those smaller faiths which can still claim sway a single percentage of the population are instead appointed a seat on the low council.

The High and Low Council together make up the Ecumenial Council - a body of the nation’s most devoted who ultimately serve as an advisory body for the High Cleric of the Light. In matters which the council handles, not all are given an equal voice. Members of the Low Council are always allowed a voice, but when matters which require a majority confirmation to achieve a resolution, it is only members of the High Council who are allowed to vote… and of course, only members of the High Council who are treated with the highest regard and respect.

Recently, a ‘third body’ has been added to the Ecumenial Council; the Circle of Light, elected governing body of the Isles of Krell, have been recognized in a similar capacity to the Low Council; This decision has generally been regarded as another way for Celenis to subtly place themselves above Krell in the pecking order, and assert in everyone’s minds that they are a true vassal state rather than an independent power.

While the High Cleric ostensibly has the right to disregard the words of this august body, in practice it is uncommon for a major decision to be made in which the majority of the High Councillors did not lend their support.

It is not only the lands of Celenis and Krell where the Ecumenial Coucnil holds sway, either; a nudge here, a whispered word there, a decree from the church, and the opinions of other courts where religion is prominent may be pushed gently in whatever direction the Council seeks them pushed. Having connections as the preeminent religious center of the continent has its advantages, after all. This outsized influence speaks a great deal to how the government of Celenis has been able to maintain such its status on trade to Summum.

Culture

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Faith permeates every aspect of Celenian society. With even a religious education at the center of the average Celenian life, The vast majority of citizens ascribe to one of the several major religions of Arcanorum. Casual religious debates are a popular pastime, even as the majority of the population now follows The highlord.

Due to the lack of metal and by extension coins in Celenis, a commonality of culture is that Celenians will love to barter and often attempt to make a deal without letting money get in the way. What money does flow through Celenian pockets is often seen as the due of the church, and Celenians often tithe generously to religious and charitable organizations.

Being islanders by nature, Celenisites are often familiar with the ins and outs of basic sailing, fishing, and other nautical concepts. Celenisite government is generally perceived as the elevation of the “worthy” by either elected or divine means. This tends to foment great faith in the leadership - until they prove themselves unworthy, at least. The colors of the Celenisite’s favored deity, Aeterius, are red and gold, and they are often represented in their fashion regardless of individual devotion.

Education

Socially, the Celeniste religious education is the de facto state mandate, and the people encourage this down to the family and individual level. As one of the primary venues for religious teaching, the Schola Divina is part of every Celenisite’s upbringing: a boarding type school in the early pre-teens through the age of sixteen that rigorously educates its pupils in the ways of the world, declaring that “Intellectus divinus est” or “Understanding is Divine”. As such, Celenisites are often among the most well educated in the known world, and believe that knowledge is the path to better connection with their deity, for “If the divines are omniscient, should not the Celeniste strive to model themselves the same way?”

Language

The speech dynamics of Celenis developed in relative isolation from the rest of Solum, on a small island. This has led to several unique idiosyncrasies. Perhaps the most notable is the near complete absence of references to certain geographic features in common expressions. Very rarely, for example, will you hear a resident of Celenis speak of mountains, sprawling plains, volcanos, or canyons in their native tongue.

Another common feature of Celenian speech is the manner in which impulse and decision making are expressed. It is very rare to express these feelings in a sense of one’s own desire. Rather, the common thread is to express action in terms of the will of the divine; to separate the appearance of selfishness from the self, and express one's desire and intention to follow the tenets of their fate. ‘Highlord willing’ or Aeterius is arguably the single most popular expression in Celenian society, and Celenians will often attempt to justify their actions in relation to their faiths’ tenets, whether that is their true intention or not.

The final defining mark of a Celenian is the common mispronunciation of larger and more complicated words. Given the commonality of reading as a vocation and pastime on the island, the average citizen’s vocabulary of words they have seen read is actually larger than the pool of words they have heard spoken, which often leads to these words being mispronounced.

Clothing

Another byproduct of the dominant religious influence on the isle, residents often wear fashion which displays the colors of their deity. Historically, this resulted in a sprawling rainbow of colors across all elements of society. In modern years, naturally, the dominance and popularity of Highlord worship has led to a marked favoring of colors in scintillating golds and reds… even faithless travelers and members of other faiths can oft be seen wearing clothing in these palettes, owing to the fact that they have achieved a degree of mainstream separation which transcends the religious origin.

While it is the way of Celenian clothes to display bold coloration, it is also typical for most members of society to wear cuts of fabric which favor comfort and practical movement over complex drapery and finery. It is in the upper echelons of society where ornate and finely cut robes tend to dominate; to some extent they are considered the unofficial uniform of clergy, but as nobles, union leaders, and wealthy traders have gained an increasing foothold in society, it is common for them to adopt these robes as well. Due to the mild weather and temperatures which Celenis enjoys, sandals are the most common form of footwear, though traveling residents are amply cautioned to bring sturdier and more practical shoes when they depart from the home island, of course!

Celenis has never been an island with a healthy supply of metal, precious or otherwise. For this reason, jewelry tends to gravitate towards stone, precious or otherwise. Pendants of granite carved smoothly with religious iconography are exceedingly popular for this purpose, the workmanship of the piece typically prized over the value of the materials. Pieces from Copoa are among the most highly prized, valued for the nation’s unimpeachable reputation for exceptional workmanship. Other popular styles include jewelry that incorporates precious stone, elaborately knotted woven twine, and beads of various materials including wood, sea shells, and a unique multi shaded resin which the Celenian Cypress tree secretes.

There is one exception to the disregard for specific materials… stone harvested from Highlord’s stand. Called Aetarite, this former limestone was transformed by the holy emanations of the Highlord itself, varies in color from crimson, to bright red, to glimmering gold. Its harvest is tightly controlled by the Celenian government, and it is used almost exclusively for materials possessing religious significance; pendants carved out of the stone, and blessed by Celenian clergy, go for massive sums on the open market.

The lack of metal jewelry in Celenian society has slowly shifted over the past few centuries. Once the Great Stormseal calmed the seas and international commerce began to boom, shipments of both raw metal and metal jewelry started to slowly populate the island. However, this precious cargo remains highly priced and less common. Typically, one would only see a notable amount of metal jewelry in the possession of well-off society members on the cutting edge of fashion, and on world travelers returning home after time far afield.

Holidays

Most traditional holidays in Celenis center around faith, community in commerce. On the mainland, such observances often take the form of celebrations which mark harvests, the turning of seasons, and similar events. Given that Celenis arguably only has a single season year round, this was simply never the basis for holidays. If there is a religious observance for a major deity anywhere in the world, there is an excellent chance that it has made it to Celenis in some form or another. Given the large number of gods influencing the world, this means there is nearly always a holiday or celebration of some sort going on in the nation, lending the streets of cities and towns a near constant festival air. In this section, only holidays native to Celenis will be described.

Stormseal’s Day

Taking place in early June, Stormseal’s Day is a holiday which started out with a very specific purpose and grew to be something far more. Originally observed exclusively in Almyst, it was a day for all members of the city to come together and aid in the nation’s great effort and commission… the preservation of the Great Stormseal, painstakingly constructed by The Watcher itself. Over time, the spirit of the holiday has shifted, and spread over the entirety of Celenis. No longer about repairing only the elements of the Stormseal, the day is now about going out into your own community to help those in need. From working on buildings in need of repairs, to making sure the poor have an adequate supply of food, to doing housework and chores for the infirm and elderly. Stormseal’s Day is when the Celenian sense of community and camaraderie is at its strongest, and is noted for being a rare holiday which honors Voxus Thousand-eye.

Termina

Taking place in early November, the festival of Termina marks the end of the nation’s 10 month academic term. Termina is earmarked by lavish ceremonies for the graduation of students who have successfully completed their term, becoming formally recognized as adults within Celenian society. Stretching out over multiple weeks, the holiday is partly a grand scale coming of age, and partly a festival celebrated as families separated for much of the year are reunited. Most of the content of this festival trends towards casual, family friendly fun to fit the occasion.

Sola Conception

Every August, followers of The Highlord and The Tower observe the holiday of Sola Conception. Marking the day that Aeterius, the dominant Deity in Celenis, was brought into the world by Thousand Eye Voxus, it is a day of great celebration and revelry where worshipers take to the streets with pride and joy to feast, dance, and revel from sunrise until sunset. It is not uncommon for Aeterius’ avatar to make appearances on this day, and often it is a day when lots of Aetarite jewelry and carvings are distributed.

Cuisine

Celenian cuisine is overwhelmingly Mediterranean, in the traditional sense that we know it, and heavily features and favors fish and seafood over terrestrial meats. A great deal of bounty is extracted from the Oceans around the island, from fish to crustaceans to seaweed, often prepared with fragrant infused olive oils, citrus, and flatbreads. This section will detail some of the nation’s most popular specific dishes to give an idea of the norms.

Lemon Sturgeon Bake: Dense and firm in a way fish rarely is, Razor Sturgeon meat calls to mind veal or pork cutlets. In Celenis, it is often served oven baked with light breading and a generously drizzled lemon-herb seasoning, accompanied by fresh wild greens.

Porpoise Flatbread: Porpoise meat, caught by whalers off of the island’s north coat, is incredibly rich and high in fat. In its traditional preparation, it is ground and mixed into a Pâté, and spread on fresh flatbreads to be served with fresh vegetables and seaweed.

Seaweed Salad: Off the coasts of Celenis, dozens of different varieties of seaweed naturally grow. From simple presentations of a few kelp leaves to elaborate and artistic creations featuring half a dozen different varieties of the ubiquitous plant, seaweed is the base for much of the nation’s vegetable diet.

Sashimi: It is common to eat fish and seafood raw, cut into thin slices. While it is common to enjoy it plain, dipping sashimi into various savory sauces or enjoying it with small pieces of flatbread are just as common.

Visual Arts

Celenian visual arts have long been inextricably linked with architecture. This, of course, derives primarily from the nation’s extensive construction and upkeep of grand temples, libraries, and nationally sponsored academies. This manifests in a variety of ways; stone carved grecian architecture certainly dominates in these buildings. Hand painted murals depicting major historical and religious events often adorn these structures as well. This architecture often transcends what it would be possible to achieve with mere hand carvings; masses of stone held up at impossible angles, insanely detailed carvings, and the like. All of this is maintained by divine enchantments, devotion to the gods quite literally sustaining the structures which build the nation.

Stone carved statues of granite and limestone are one of the nation’s major visual hallmarks. The most prominent of these statues are depictions of Arcanorum’s pantheon of Major gods, found in temples and city squares all across the nation. They are not the only popular subjects, however. Other popular subjects of statuary include famous historical members of Celenian society… High Clerics, powerful nobles, storied paladins, and well known philanthropists.

Literature

In a nation with a literacy rate which has been approaching 100% for centuries now, literary tradition is far more dominant and ubiquitous than visual art in the lives of common man. Where paintings, murals and statues are typically found in public spaces, works of literature can be found all over the place, private and public alike.

Unsurprisingly, a substantial portion of the body of literature which comprises so much of Celenian culture centers around holy works, and historic texts. Tending towards the dry side, these pieces aim at preserving the heritage of the nation and its myriad faiths. These texts are largely stored in public institutions such as libraries, scholarly institutes, and public academies. A notable exception is the Sola Aeterius. Written by the first High Cleric of Aeterius, the scripture contains the deity's teachings and commandments, it is common to see a copy in the households of most any of the Highlord’s followers.

Popular Literature: A natural byproduct of the high literacy rate in Celenis is the ubiquity of reading for pleasure rather than merely to learn. Sold in shops all across the island, there is a deep culture and highly competitive market among local novelists.

Public institutions: A portion of the Celenian public education system is the network of Libraries and Research institutions. Anchored by a grand library in Almyst and scattered throughout the rest of the nation, these publicly available buildings play host to a large collection of religious texts, educational materials, histories and even a healthy selection of novels.

Folklore

The Boreal Hills are the location of the first great battle between avatars Highlord Aetarius and Yaziri Mourntide, the Crimson Jackal - a malevolent god of old. The battle raged on for a full ten days, tearing up the landscape before the newly conceived but already powerful Highlord caught Yaziri’s Avatar in a mighty smite, striking them down as the morning Tenth day dawned and banishing them for a time from the realm. In the aftermath of the battle, the once placid landscape was torn into a jagged landscape of hills and canyons. In the aftermath of Aetarius’ mighty smite, the stone of these new hills was stained forever in their colors; the people of Celenis have now taken to calling it Aetarite. To this day, a settlement built almost entirely around pilgrimage and worship to the Highlord nestles these hills - the town of (Nameable Town D). Harvesting of this stone without the explicit permission of the High Cleric of Light is strictly forbidden, and remains one of Celenis’ most harshly punished offenses to this day.

Beyond this, there is surprisingly little folklore in Celenis, an idiosyncrasy of the nation owing to two factors. To the first, the island’s constrained geography can be credited. A small island, home to only two major cities, leaves very little room for divergent oral traditions and histories. The isolation caused by the ride and swell of the unbound sea for so many years also contributed, keeping the area isolated and free from the strong influence of other cultures.

The high level of education that the entirety of Celenis' population is held to also makes a difference. Throughout history, it is oral tradition, campfire stories, and the multitude of uncorroborated stories exchanged by common folk which leads to robust folklore. Celenis, on the other hand, is highly educated and has an extensive written accounting of nearly every aspect of history, from foundation to the present day.

Demography and Population

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Though centuries of isolation once meant that Celenis once had narrow demographics, the island’s status as the gateway to Summum has led to a gradually broadening and diversifying population over the last 150 years. On top of the dominant three breeds, Celenis now plays home to many breeds of all sorts, including higher than normal numbers of outworlders due to the activity of the Almyst Stormgate

The very high number of faithful Celenis leads to the nation possessing an unusually high number of Simulacrum. While many are created with purpose and live short, meaningful lives before returning to the clay of creation, some are imbued with seeming free will, and find themselves drawn to the Isle to live among like-minded and understanding kin.

The population of Celenis is overwhelmingly urban due to the small size and high population density of the city. A full 80% of the population lives in or around Almyst and Braemar, with a further 10% concentrated around a pair of smaller towns to the north and west. The remaining portion of the population are scattered around tiny agrarian hamlets, farms and fishing villages which help to feed the nation and power its small but mighty textile industry.

Territories

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Landscape and Rivers

Celenis is a rocky island, at its core. Raised from the seabed on a foundation of primarily rose granite to the south and west with deposits of limestone dominant in the north and east, centuries of erosion and human development have seen the surface of the island slowly ground down into fertile, loamy farmland - particularly in the west. Towards the eastern shore, where untold years of ocean storms have battered the coastline, much more of this bare stone is on display, whether in the form of rocky beaches, or rugged cliffs of limestone jutting out over the ocean.

Perhaps the most unique and defining feature of Celenis is also its most noted holy site - The Boreal Hills. While most of the island’s landscape is flat at best, and gently rolling at worst, the Boreal Hills are rolling and jagged, reaching up to 500 meters in elevation - considerable for a nation with an average elevation of roughly 30 meters. The hills, composed almost entirely of limestone and naturally formed glass, are largely devoid of life, bare stone jutting out over the sea and the plains. One could consider this a fortunate thing, as the fame-inspiring trait of these hills is the vibrant, undulating hues of red and gold which the stone takes.

Deep beneath the island exists a large number of massive fresh water cisterns, a mix of particularly porous stone and actual subterranean cave network, manifesting into a considerable number of fresh water springs, creeks, and ponds. There is little dependence on a single source of water like a large river or lake. These cisterns rarely run low, with groundwater restocked by steady, gentle rainfall as well as natural filtering of ocean water through the porous limestone of the Eastern Shore. Moving water out to the majority coastal population centers from these water sources in the central regions of Celenis is a cottage industry; farmers are paid by the government to pipe extra water from their land to a network of central aqueducts which run to major population centers.

Climate

Located near the juncture of the Glass and Unbound seas, for many centuries the joining region of these two domineering bodies of water tossed up fierce storms, violent waves, and unpredictable conditions that only the most intrepid of sailors would dare to brave. To this day, scholars and mages can only speculate at what may have caused such tumultuous tides. Theories range anywhere from the notion that it was caused by some fateful aftermath of the calamity, to more level headed naturalists claiming it was simply a logical consequence of two bodies of water with distinctly different character conjoining.

What isn’t uncertain is the manner in which the seas stilled. As with so many great shifts Arcanorum has lived through, it was influenced over decades by the subtle but inexorable machinations of Voxus. As the city of Almyst developed into the bustling metropolis that it is today, a very specific building would go up here - a street at an unusual angle there. By the time the last was laid into place, it had become clear to the nation’s eminent clerics what had been weaved into the city; a massive ritual enchantment, on a scale only a god could comprehend. Powered by the beating hearts and vibrant life of thousands of citizens, everyone who steps foot within the city now pays an almost imperceptibly small portion of their vitality in order to fuel the great work of magic. In exchange, its effects span out for hundreds of leagues. For the last four hundred years, this subtle magic has been slowly calming the raging seas around the island, transforming them into ideal shipping lanes through which trade and commerce to Celenis - and by extension Summum - flows.

Nature and Wildlife

Mixed in among the farmlands are many copses of trees and woods, though never quite enough to be called a forest. Common varieties of trees include Olive, Cypress, Oak, and Juniper. Trees tend to grow around the many water sources available in the central portion of the island, and thus thin out greatly towards the coast where they have not been manually planted by the island’s residents. Out towards these coasts, common foliage gives way to scrubby, short plants and shrubs; resilient plants that are well suited to living amongst the salt and the open sea air.

Carefully tended mariculture along the coasts of Celenis have led to a vibrant marine ecology. The coasts of the nation are famed for their coral reefs, which have only accelerated their slow, deliberate growth in the newly calm seas they inhabit. Fishing on the island is the primary source of meat, with Halibut, Stone Crab, Purplefin Tuna, and Razor Sturgeon most popular among the hundreds of species rife in the waters.

Land animals tend to be small, and feature less prominently. The largest predators on the island are Mosspaws, green spotted ‘big cats’ which only reach a maximum weight of about 40 pounds. Mosspaws sit at the top of a relatively harmless ecology of smaller predator and prey critters. Many farmers also allow cattle and sheep to roam their land, as Mosspaws hunt in solitary and are not big enough to take livestock down.

Major Cities

The shape of Celenis has given rise to several natural bays, four of which are suitable for port operations. With a history of brutal seas, it was only natural that these safe harbors would develop into the nation’s largest settlements. The nation’s capital, Almyst (as well as presumably the Stormgate located next to it), are built up around the most secure and placid of these - Sanctum Bay. To the south, the island’s second largest city of Braemar sprawls along the shores of the Gulf of Castidia to the west, and Watcher’s Bay to the east. To the Northwest of the island, the once sleepy town of (Nameable Town E) has been exploding in population as the bay of the same name which it sits along facilitates an increasing amount of mainland trade, and a recently built paved stone highway connects it to both Almyst and Braemar.

Military

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Due to its lack of political relevance, and the extremely high defensibility provided by the Unbound Sea, for centuries the largest single military entity on the island was not even Celenian. Rather it was the Stormguard who defended the Almyst Stormgate, a gate that was at the time not at all prominent relative to others in the region. Historic tensions from Edos and The Brassic Isles has caused Celenis to expand its military capabilities for defensive purposes. It now boasts a sizable protective force as well as a healthily supported navy to protect its shipping lanes.

Technological Level

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There are several areas of technology where Celenis can claim to stand at the top of the heap among peers. While Celenis has a relatively low population compared to many of its peers, the population density is high. The nation’s globally leading public education system and culture of knowledge seeking, Celenian research institutions provide some of the world's leading advances in Divine rituals, printing, architecture, and shipbuilding. While Celenian ships and printing presses have become increasingly popular for export, demand for Celenian architects remains stubbornly low in the dominant shadow of Hjalmor, a fact that Celenian architects are painfully aware of.

A limited amount of desalination and water purification via magical means also augments the major cities’ water supply. Chiefly provided as a public service by the various churches, as so many clerics specialize in cleansing magic, water purification typically serves a relatively low volume of the Celenis’ total water needs. It is during seasons of drought that the churches truly steps up their efforts, on occasion putting a heroic effort into purifying massive amounts of water and reversing the flow of the aqueducts to ensure that the city folk can keep drinking, and the farmers can keep growing.

Foreign Relations

Notable Treaties

The Almyst Stormgate

Almost every great power in Solum shares a single trait; control of one of the continent's mysterious and powerful stormgates. To this day, past and present mighty nations of Hjalmor, Edos, and Elyra all hold their capital close to one. For the small, once weak island nation of Celenis to possess one then perhaps it was fate that Almyst would one day achieve greatness and stand among peerage of the world’s greatest nations.

Thanks to the Almyst Stormgate’s recent ascension as the most frequented gateway in Arcanorum, travel through the Almyst gate is tightly controlled by the High Cleric of Light and Ecumenial council. The Ecumenial Council holds the final say on who is allowed to use the Stormgate. Carefully balancing the burgeoning ‘divine mandate’ to grow its global trade with a fierce desire to maintain control and security of their capital, travel of individuals from other Eyes is typically allowed very freely, whereas groups of Arcanorum based adventurers must pass a licensing test, proving they have the knowledge, skill, and temerity to safely navigate a Storm Bridge.

Celenis heavily invests into and protects its population of hired Stormcallers, bringing them in from all over the world. Taxing the churches of the Ecumenial Council on each gate activation, as well as a duty on outworlder goods sold within Celenian or Krellian borders provides the lion’s share of the considerable profit Almyst makes from operating the gate.

Laws

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In a nation where the Church and the State make up a single apparatus, it is hardly a surprise that the country’s broad social services run off of Tithes. In keeping with the Triune Virtues, each citizen who is a member of a recognized Ecumenial Council faith is asked to provide a tithe in accordance with their ability to pay. In this fashion, the peasantry and paupers pay very little; it is the wealthy who shoulder a larger burden. In even more recent times, however, Celenis has discovered another extremely lucrative source of Tithes. Duty fees on all goods that move through their ports have been implemented, enabling additional income from Summum's unique position as a midway between Solum and Summum.

Trade & Transport

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Economy

For centuries, the most notable feature of the Celenian economy was its relative weakness. The land itself was faced with a great many geographic limitations as a small island surrounded by rough seas. With limited farmland, and poor mineral wealth, the only real basis for a successful economy was the value of the ports and the Stormgate. With Summum still laying undiscovered and the Unbound Sea making a boat journey from anywhere further than Valune, Calaren, or Dawnward. Largely at the mercy of Edos for shipments of grain, the empire to Celenis’ west happily used this position of power to ruthlessly crush the nation’s political and economic capital. The land rush to Summum changed everything, and The Great Stormseal changed still more. In the last 150 years, Celenis has unhesitatingly exploited its newly advantageous position, claiming the will of the Divines as their economy booms on the back of the mighty ports the nation operates out of Almyst, Braemar, and Calaren.

Guilds and Organizations

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Though the isles are devout through and through, it is not merely the nation’s Clergy who hold sway. Though they occupy no official office, the leaders of the various commercial guilds of Celenis exert influence in their own way. With a state government perhaps a bit overly focused on matters of the spirit and education, a very wide niche was left open for enterprising individuals to oversee the nation’s practical matters. Representing and protecting the people who work in their respective industries, the guilds of Celenis serve as a check to the power of the High Cleric and the Ecumenial Council.

The Churches of Celenis

While every major faith has a powerful church within Celenis, only The Highlord’s truly bears mention due to its dominance. Celenian churches are widespread, and in fact often international bodies. Headquartered in temples and shrines all over the nation, a hierarchy of clerics, priests, and commoners anchors a structure that binds the social order of large swathes of the nation.

The Church is also the method by which the government of Celenis is funded, and by which welfare is distribute.The church is also the force which is slowly binding Celenis and Krell ever closer, as divine mandate is leveraged to bring Krell deeper and deeper into the fold. Many Clerics within the courts of foreign nations also report back to the Churches of Celenis, thus influencing these nations subtly in the ways that the Ecumenial court desires.

The Sealkeepers

The only religious sect within the city that operates outside of the chain of command of the High Cleric and Council, they answer directly to the Highlord and are tasked with a holy commission; preservation of the Great Stormseal. Composed of a mix of divine ritualists, tradespeople, and former adventurers, the Sealkeepers presently number around 500 strong and are responsible for every aspect of the Seal’s upkeep and protection. An appointment to the Sealkeepers is highly prestigious, due to both the divinity of the edifice they preserve, and the sheer impact it has on international commerce.

Boreal Ranger Corps

If you are a fully employed druid living within the borders of Celenis, odds are very good that you serve, or have served in the Boreal Ranger Corps at one time or another. While the overwhelming majority of the island is by now either developed into farmland or city, the famed Boreal Hills remain a last bastion of wilderness and one filled with a priceless and prized treasure at that. The world’s largest supply of Aeterite by far exists in the Boreal Hills, and the Rangers are its stewards.

Recommending the most responsible locations and quantities of Aeterite year over year, maintaining safe paths for harvesting operations are the primary duties of the Rangers… however, they have a tertiary purpose. When folk with malicious intent come to the hills with intent to steal Aeterite, the Boreal Ranger Corps serves as judge, jury, and executioner for their unforgivable crime.

Institutum Divinata

An extension of the well funded Schola Divinata, the Institutium Divinata is Celenis’ public research institution. Funded by the same tithes as its sister institution, and working closely with scholars of the Vedean Academy, the sharpest and most dedicated graduates of Celenian Academies often end up staying in Academia for the duration of their careers.

Within the halls of research institutes in every notable settlement on the island and headquartered in Braemar, this organization is responsible for the bulk of notable Celenian technological and theological advances. The Institutium Divinata spans many areas of study both practical and sociological, but the most popular areas include theology, divine magic, philosophy, shipbuilding, textiles, and printing technology.

Merchant’s Guild

The Merchant’s guild has for the past several decades been the most powerful guild in Celenis. Providing union representation and regulation for Celenis based trading companies and led by the same shrewd Aelthen for the past century, the Merchant’s guild has a hand in every ship that lands on Celenian shores, and every shipment traveling the nation’s roads.

Membership in the Merchants guild is considered all but compulsory for those who trade within Celenis. It is a wide umbrella which represents naval traders, warehousing organizations, shopkeepers, and other related professions. While no member of the guild officially sits on the Ecumenial Council, guild officers can frequently be seen in the halls of The Grand Cathedral of Light and the churches of popular faiths.

Transport

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A small island such as Celenis has little trouble maintaining its own roads between major settlements. Vastly more notable than Celenis’ land infrastructure are the four ports. Anchoring Solum’s global trade with Summum, the four ports together are capable of mooring over 850 ships at any given time, with a throughput of thousands of tons of cargo per week. The ships which traverse these ports are a mix of Celenian government owned trade and military ships, and private vessels owned by domestic and foreign trading companies alike. These ships are the lifeblood of the nation, with most of Celenis’ mineral, grain and livestock supply coming in on them.

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[Major Exports]

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The near proximity of the entirety of Celenis to the seas which surround it ensure remarkably temperate and consistent weather throughout the year. In fact, where there used to be two seasons. The raging tropical storms and typhoons of the summer would saturate the land, but ultimately too harsh to allow for a sustained growing season of grains and delicate fruits, while the quiet and much less rainy winter season allowed time for these crops to flourish.

The activation of the Great Stormseal put an end to these seasons. Now, the nation is graced by gentle, year round rainfall to accompany the quiet seas. With relatively few fluctuations in temperature or weather, the extremely pleasant climate of Celenis now makes for a 12 month growing season which is extremely suitable for cotton, flax, and other textile crops. These days, a fairly limited amount of Celenis farmland is actually dedicated to growing food - and the limited amount which is frequently tends to be focused on luxury crops like citrus, spices, and mood altering substances. With such limited total land, and such wealth flowing in and out of the nation, it only makes sense to import grain from Summum.

To this day, despite the rising power of the Celenian economy, the actual material product of the nation is highly limited. The establishment of the Glass sea HAS firmly established the island’s fishing industry, and limited farmland tends to be used for the growth and export of luxury crops such as cotton, citrus, and spices. Literature can also be considered a material export, of a sort. Celenian scholars and scribes are among the greatest in the world, and books of all sorts written within the nation’s borders tend to sell for a premium out in the wider world.

The true weight of Celenis’ economy does not come from domestic production but rather from what goes through it. Almyst is the destination point for three of Arcanorum’s ten most active and profitable shipping routes to between Solum and Summum; Routes out of Braemar and Calaren round out another three of them. Control of these shipping routes has led to truly massive revenue for the nation in the form of port duties, domestically owned trading companies, and other such forms of revenue. With such a high portion of the world’s supply of Pre-calamity artifacts moving through a single nation’s borders, Celenis grows into more and more of an intercontinental powerhouse every year.

Nation Info

Official Name: The Divine Commonwealth of Celenis and Krell
Capital: Almyst
Population: ~345,000
Government: Theocracy
Leader: Lucia Val'Karre
Leader Title: High Cleric of the Light
Demonym: Celenisite
Major Exports:

• Cloth
• Cotton
• Illuminated Manuscripts

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Military

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• 20,000 Combatants
• Warships: 15 Warships

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Breed Distribution

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• 60% - Human
• 25% - Simulacrum
• 14% - Rahkdari

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Religion Distribution

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• 90% - The Highlord
• 5% - The Tower
• 5% - Other

Type

Geopolitical, Theocracy

Government System

Theocracy

Power Structure

Feudal state

Economic System

Market economy

Official State Religion

The Highlord