Thrane

The region of Thrane is a land of rough, rugged lands that demand considerable work from those living upon it to bring forth food and comfort. As such, its people have become ingenuitive and industrious. Flourishing in the fields of engineering and magic, Thrane became a center of invention both technological and arcane so it was no surprise that they would lead the way on the advancement of Saether and magitech. Thanks to these talents, the Thrane raised themselves from shepherds and farmers to a force to be reckoned with. As might be expected, the various territories of Thrane, along with their nobility, became dominated by local wizard guilds that wielded near unilateral power thanks to their arcane prowess with each guild sending a representative to the capital city of Flamekeep to form a ruling council to direct all of Thrane. Positioned as 'advisors', the wizards are unquestionably the true rulers of the territories within Thrane and none put up airs to the contrary. Though the contentious in-fighting within the Flamekeepers Council has been near legendary, it is a matter of tradition that such matters never spill over into Thrane itself and, as such, Thrane has remained remarkably stable despite cataclysmic wizard battles occasionally fought over leadership within the seat of power. The current leader of the Flamekeepers Council, known as the Arcanus Infernum, is the brilliant Zul, a man nearing his 60's that is as vital as the day he ascended to the head of the council two decades ago just after the Invasion at the behest of Flamekeep's young prince Louis Berliz VI.
When the Invasion first arrived, Thrane was hit quite hard because of its proximity to the primary incursion point in Talenta and, during this time, a number of the Thranish nobility was slain by doppelganger assassins but such attempts were curtailed to a large degree by the action of the Thranish wizards who managed to act with limited foreknowledge, some having expected treachery or, at the very least, having considered it a very real possibility. One of the victims of the attack, however, was Louis Berliz V, king of Flamekeep, struck down by a doppelganger that had replaced his wife months previously. This elevated his son, Louis the VI, to the throne and, in a surprising show of fortitude, the prince wielded a measure of power over the Flamekeepers Council. While the Council wished to fortify Thrane with defensive actions, the charismatic Louis the VI implored them to act to repel the invaders, believing that their threat was an existential one to Khorvaire itself. Though the mages nearly uniformly disagreed with this course of action, the voice of the reclusive wizard Zul from the distant land of Valiron near the Harrow-Crowns, spoke up in support of this action. A relative newcomer to the council himself, Zul's voice was almost entirely drowned out by the rebukes of his older peers until he invoked the right of Wizard's Duel to decide. Zul soundly defeated those that stood to challenge him and did so with shocking ease, revealing a depth of power & magical understanding that few if any had suspected him of possessing. Zul swore himself to the service of the brave young prince and so Thrane entered the war in earnest against the Illithid.
During the war, Thrane lead the way in reverse engineering Mind Flayer technology, using it to bolster the capabilities of magitech including through the adaptation of Soul Attunement enchantments. Despite their nearness to Talenta, Thrane managed to avoid considerable casualties from the war due to always possessing cutting edge magitech. In the decades after the war, however, Thrane has begun to hit difficulties due to losing access to much of the trade they had done with Talenta for food, something Thrane has outpaced in their ability to produce locally. Valenar, the primary controller of the Talenta Plains (responsible for production of a great deal of food on the continent), has demanded severe prices for comestibles citing the difficulty of transporting it across the Mournland to Thrane but rumors persist that Valenar is purposefully trying to undermine their long-time magical rival. Piracy has begun to occur with corsair airships seizing Valenari transport craft and accusations have started to be flung back and forth. Some suspect war is inevitable between Valenar and Thrane once again as has occurred many times in the past. Now in his thirties, Louis the VI seeks to avoid war if possible...but is ready to lead his people against Valenar if necessary.

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