The Kingdom of Ayris

History

Halint is one of the many worlds of the Material Plane, a world of tempestuous seas speckled with mountainous islands, and surrounded by a dozen moons. To the people of this realm, the twin arts of trade and seamanship were indispensable, lest one’s isolated colony starve to death in the middle of an uncaring ocean. The Great Mercantile Kingdom of the Isles of Ayris and the Southern Sea or, simply, the Kingdom of Ayris—is one of this land’s dominant powers, and the only power to have divined the existence of the Aetherial Expanse. This discovery, though first seen as a mere curiosity or worse, a distraction from the true goal of mercantile dominance over the Southern Seas of Halint has come to define the power of Ayris on their home world. Halincian people clamor for new “exotic” fruits and goods plundered from the Expanse, and Ayrissian mystics crave aetherium to enhance their powers of foresight, far-travel, and destruction. Though the Kingdom of Ayris presents a peaceful front, their greed cannot be slaked until they have drunk the Aetherial Expanse dry, and plundered every last ounce of aetherium from its isles.

The Ayrissian Crown

The Kingdom of Ayris is ruled by a royal dynasty that stretches back five hundred years. Its history and purity of noble blood is a matter of immense pride to its rulers and to its people alike, for they see themselves as possessing the gods-gifted right to amass wealth and power. The Opal Crown is worn by King Pietro Jaconno Ayris, Prince of Valz, Grand Duke of Nennepol, and High Tycoon of the Pelagic Exchange. All Ayrissian coinage bears his face or his regalia. Yet the king of Ayris is an old man. Though his business acumen is all but worshiped throughout Ayris and its holdings in the Aetherial Expanse, his glory days have long since passed.

Faction Goals

The Ayrissian Crown is a faction at war with itself. The many potential successors to the throne smell the reek of death upon the aging king, and are amassing power to be best-prepared to claim the crown when it falls from his liver-spotted brow. The Kingdom of Ayris has one major goal shared among all its royal members, and represented by the current king and his greatest supporter, his daughter Naëlana. Its other goals are divergent, and a source of discord within the Ayrissian Merchant Fleet in the Expanse.

Grow Ayrissian Wealth. All members of this faction seek to fill the kingdom’s coffers with enough gold to astound the imagination. The king’s eldest daughter, Crown Princess Naëlana, seeks to ensure that she inherits the throne, and believes that as long as she can afford to pay her soldiers, she can keep it. So long as the Opal Crown sits upon a royal head, wealth shall be its guiding star.

Shift Power to the Expanse. The king’s youngest child, Lord-Inheritor Phaedon, seeks to not only expand the reach of the kingdom, but to make Windcrown its seat of power. They see the Old World of Halint as backward and ailing, just like their father.