Introduction
The Vire is a region of icy tundras, biting winds and a wild coastline, and is sparsely populated as a result. Over the centuries Del’Marah has laid claim to the Vire but never successfully conquered it. Some have suggested that the emperors of
Del'Marah have found it useful to train their soldiers in the harsh environment of the region, suppressing the native peoples. The Virefolk are an ethnic mix of exiled Del Marahans, Olorians and native Sindhans who have crossed the winter ice bridge that connects Aestis to Sindhi. Generations of Sindhans have crossed from the icy south in small numbers, but in the past 20 years there has been a vast increase in refugees, including the nomadic army; the Ember Legion.
History
One of the key reasons for Del’Marahan princes being eager to break free from the Arc Empire in the year -903 (KB), was the desire, among many of them, to conquer the Vire. Arc’s emperors had little desire to be dragged into endless conflict in the far south and forbade any military incursions by their Del’Marahan subjects into the mountains and plains of the Vire. This high handed and arrogant approach only served to inflame tensions and provide separatists in the south with an incentive to break away. For decades it had been assumed that in the mountains of the Vire, seams of iron, lead and even gold ran through the rocks and the sparse population of the Vire could make no effective claim on any of it. Avaricious merchants, miners and adventurers looked on with great interest, and the successful revolt against Arc triggered, the following year, the first invasion of the Vire.
Prince Kaas Deur led a thousand Afrad riders across the Skarda, the great coastal plains, putting hundreds of villages to the sword and flame. The Virefolk learned quickly to withdraw to the mountains, hiding in high passes and preventing Kaas Deur from taking what he had crossed the border to seize. The first Del’Marah Vire war set a pattern for the forthcoming centuries, whereby invasions from Del’Marah would be launched, often by emperors who believed there was political capital to be had in attacking the region. Often lurid tales of rampaging tribes attacking Del’Marahan caravans would circulate the souks of the great cities, whispered by agents of the emperors. Gradually, capturing the mountains became less and less a strategic objective and instead, the Vire became a useful means of distracting a restless population in Del’Marah from their troubles. The Virefolk tribes fought valiantly, but they never succeeded in defeating a Del’Marahan army. The first major victory for the Vire came in the year 112 (OTM), but this was only possible through the arrival of new allies from the south.
The Ember Legion
Over the past thousand years, the far south of
Aestis has remained colder for longer each year. This means that the ice bridge that forms in the dead of winter across the Sindhan Sea between Aestis and Sindhi holds for several months at a time, long enough for travellers to cross between continents during the winter (though it is a perilous journey and many meet their deaths along the way).
For centuries, the Virefolk and Sindhans have been connected through trade, diplomacy and kinship; the cold forging solidarity among the two peoples. Over the past two centuries, there has been a greater flow of Sindhans leaving the icebound continent and the mountain kingdoms that exist at its centre. Many believe that there is no future for them or their children in Sindhi, and others fear far darker terrors in the shadows of their king’s mountain halls. Crossing the straits along with Sindhan refugees, first as their escorts and then as fellow emigres, was the Ember Legion.
The legion, master warriors and riders of huge Kao Ice Bears, have made the Vire their home and became the vanguard of a Virefolk Army that crushed Emperor Khoz of Del’Marah in the year 112. This was a humiliation that Del’Marah has yet to avenge, but each new emperor sees the destruction of the Ember Legion as an almost sacred duty. The commanders of the legion, known as the Kenshin, lead a battle hardened army that cling to the hope that they may return to their homelands and rid the mountains of the darkness that has engulfed them. Many speak of a master they have never met, the Udo Sune, or King Under The Mountains, who chose to stay behind after sending his people away and who waits with his sword for the day the shadow takes form and shows itself.
Dao Dan
The Ember Legion fought for the Virefolk when they realised they and other Sindhans would be treated with respect and humanity. The Virefolk mystic Shan Darun told the leaders of the largest tribes to place flaming beacons on the beaches of the southern coast to guide Sindhans across, to feed and shelter those who arrived and to treat them as welcome guests, showing them dignity. This initially seemed alien to many Vire chieftains who angrily rejected Shan Darun’s request. Shan decided to lead by example and took a band of followers with him to the coast where he lit the way for the Sindhans and offered food to the hungry when they arrived. Darun could see that the Sindhans' circumstances were identical to those of the Virefolk and that solidarity, not suspicion, was the solution. He named this philosophy Dao Dan, the hope of the outsider, and many Virefolk have embraced his ideas. The lords of the Virefolk were surprised when Shan Darun rode into battle with the Ember Legion, alongside the Virefolk armies and helped deliver a crushing blow to Del’Marah’s ambitions.
Society
The Vire is comprised of several different social groupings, from the sea to the mountains. The long coastal network of small fishing villages and ports are populated by hardy Virefolk who fish the waters of the southern and eastern seas in spring, summer and autumn, and retire to the land for five months of winter as their harbours freeze. The Virefolk of the coasts practice the code of Dan Dao rigorously and face constant dangers together from the elements and sometimes from creatures that emerge from the blizzards, hungry for blood. The coastal peoples loosely describe themselves as the Yuhzan, or ‘people at the edge of the world’, and they both love and fear the wild icy seas that crash against their shores, bringing both prosperity and death.
Before the seas freeze over the Yuhzan light lanterns for hundreds of miles along the coast in a ritual called that Khao De. They believe that the spirits of those lost at sea will find their way back to the land when they see the lights on the shore. It was this ritual that inspired Shan Darun to light beacons not just for the dead but also for the living. Inland, the people of the great tundras of the Vire who hunt and herd the migrating deer and caribou cluster in small villages, often close to sources of fresh inland water, or they migrate and hunt the animals as they wander. One reason why Del’Marah has often found it easy to crush the Virefolk is because so many live as nomads, meaning their society lacks the kind of organisation needed to defend against invaders. The wandering Virefolk have little to do with the Yuhzan of the sea, though they will often visit the markets of the coast to trade furs, meats and horses.
The closest the Virefolk have to a stable and fixed society exists in the Kaoan Mountains, where the old Vannic Empire once had its southernmost strongholds (see below). Clustered around these centres of power are the largest Vire settlements, where those who are wealthiest in Vire society dwell. Small mining enclaves exist across the Kaoan Mountains, as miners are drawn from across the Vire and the rest of the continent, searching for valuable ores and gems buried deep in the earth.
Places of interest
In the heart of the Kaoan Mountains is the Vire stronghold, Osk Dao San. The Ember Legion has claimed this fortress as its own and readies itself for what it sees as the last great war to retake the continent of Sindhi, which they fled following the fall of the mountain kingdoms of Uk Van. Osk was the southernmost outpost of the Van Empire but also the most forgotten and hidden. The Ember Legions have spent years rebuilding the fortress and making it largely impregnable against Del’Marahan forces. The Del’Marahan emperor Iblim has long had a dream of making peace with the Virefolk in the fortress itself, seeing it as having immense significance. As so many Del’Marahans have the belief they descended directly from the Van, to find peace in their southernmost stronghold seems to make sense. Kato Si is arguably the more important of the two cities, it being a moveable tent city that migrates around the Vire along with the deer and elk that cross through the southern wilderness.
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