Valenar

Valenar, the nation of mercenaries. Valenar, the Southern Cross. Valenar, the Bladed. For centuries, Valenar has been solely ruled by powerful magic users married to a deep cultural respect for power in all its forms. Initially a desperately barren land dominated by the Blade Desert, Valenar was equal parts a prison and a safe haven for bandits, sellswords and other unsavory individuals all the way to its southern point where the Bay of Swords acted as a hide-away for pirates seeking to escape into the dangers of the Ravar Orioth to escape those that would put them to death for their crimes. Whether they had come to Valenar through escape or exile, in time, these rough bands of individuals slowly coalesced into larger gangs and then settlements. In time, Talenta would seek out these men of Valenar and offer them riches in exchange for launching attacks against the mysterious, savage scaled inhabitants of Q'barra. The Valenari agreed but requested they be able to take the dead as part of their payment. Talenta agreed. Finding success with this, Talenta soon leveraged these mercenary bands against other enemies and then others began to do the same. Soon, Valenar became truly known for its mercenary forces rather than its former criminal roots as formal relations were established between the various forces thanks, in no small part, to efforts by the strange race known as the Nerek who had begun to ingratiate themselves to the Valenari. This power attracted attention but Valenar fiercely resisted any attempts to tame it from outside forces with mercenary companies building up their settlements into fearsome towers, keeps and fortifications. Still, Valenar had nothing resembling cohesive leadership because of its very nature and so Talenta believed it could subdue the unruly neighbor at its leisure. It was soon dissuaded of this notion with the emergence of the Necronteur, a cult of wizards that enslaved the dead. With this revelation, the role of the Nerek within Valenar became more clear as they acted as go-betweens and majordomo to the Necronteur in many situations. Indeed, Valenar's survival for years was revealed to be due to their utilization of the dead as servants in various roles and it was the Necronteur who had made it possible in the distant past, the wizards choosing to keep themselves hidden behind the leadership of the various bands that occupied the land and then the Nerek. As to how the Necronteur came to be or from whence they came, there appear to be only questions and no answers. Certainly, the Necronteur do not speak of their origins.
With the Necronteur at the forefront, the magic ability of Valenar was brought to the forefront of their lands and all of Talenta's influence was rebuffed from the region (often in the form of brutal examples being made). Since then, Valenar's mercenary clans have diverged in incredibly varied ways as they've embraced different forms of magic and magitech to supplement their capabilities while the Necronteur have turned the dead towards the mining of Saether both in Valenar itself as well as into the Endworld Mountains, both these endeavors flowing gold into Valenar's coffers though Valenar deeply resents their lead in Saether research being utterly overtaken and eclipsed by Thrane's advancements.
When the Invasion came, Valenar was called on to help repel the Mind Flayers and, as usual, Valenar's clans demanded payment in gold for their spilling of blood. The other lands, already reeling from the attack refused to indulge the mercenary leanings of Valenar, preferring to turn their coffers towards maintaining their direct war effort. Things changed, however, when members of the Necronteur themselves were revealed as doppelgangers causing a vicious but brief four days of investigation, purging and bloodshed across every Keep-City in the desert region that has since come to be known as 'The Nights of Steel Truth'. With the decision to remain mercenary in the war revealed to have been overwhelmingly supported by the imposter wizards, Valenar entered the war effort in earnest but with reservations and suspicion even towards their allies. This behavior and later slow leveraging of magic lead many to believe Valenar's efforts were, at best, half-hearted until the remaining Necronteur revealed the fruits of unsavory investigations & experimentation they had been doing upon captured Illithid technology and agents. This masterstroke helped turn the Invasion war against the Illithid and, in the eyes of quite a few, redeemed the Southern Cross.
In the decades since the Invasion, Valenar has seen more changes take place as the depletion of the Necronteur ranks has seen the rise of mercenary clan-heads as co-rulers of the lands, wielding as much power as the Necronteur themselves thanks not only to political influence but also due to their own force of arms in both steel & magic. The Nerek seem to have recognized this as well, gravitating to the sides of the Valenari warlords to serve them. With the Necronteur seemingly on the decline and the clans (or 'Blades' as they are colloquially known) on the rise, Valenar currently exists in a precarious state. The Necronteur replenish the dead workforce heavily devastated through their usage as troops during the war effort while the Blade Masters consolidate power. Only a fool would believe the Necronteur would voluntarily fade into the background though...but...then again...they started their rule as less than a rumor.

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