Thrane

Thrane was one of the original Five Nations founded by the human settlers of Khorvaire; the culture and heritage of the region goes back millennia. It was absorbed into the Kingdom of Galifar and remained a pillar of that celebrated kingdom for almost a thousand years. While the rest of the Five Nations followed the tenets of the Sovereign Host, a new religion found life in Thrane before spreading far and wide across Khorvaire. In the wake of the Last War, Thrane stands as a theocracy devoted to the Silver Flame.

History

Thrane ir’Wynarn, third scion of King Galifar I, was appointed to oversee the nation that would eventually carry his name shortly after his father united the kingdom. As with the other nations, the name was changed to match that of its regent by popular decree in 32 YK. Thrane, and the greater kingdom to which it belonged, prospered as the decades grew into centuries.

The Enkindling

In 299 YK, the event that started the religion of the Silver Flame took place. In that year, a terrible eruption split the ground and a great pillar of crimson fire emerged from the resulting chasm. No one understood the significance of the blazing column of flame, but most who dared approach it felt unrelenting malevolence in its radiating heat.

Tira Miron, a paladin dedicated to Dol Arrah, received a powerful vision about this strange fire while exploring the western reaches of the realm. In her vision, a great rainbow-winged serpent warned her that a terrible evil was emerging in the east, riding crimson fire from the depths of Khyber itself. Tira rallied the forces of Thrane and defeated the dark creatures that had come to venerate the crimson fire and help free the malevolent entity trapped within its flames. With her great sword Kloinjer, its pommel capped with a Khyber dragonshard, Tira turned to face the emerging demon just as the great serpent with the rainbow-feathered wings of her vision appeared and dove headfirst into the fire. Tira watched as the serpent and the demon struggled in the flames. The battle within the fire seemed to last for an eternity, and as she watched the demon began to overcome the serpent. Horrified, she saw the demon strike a crippling blow. The serpent, calling on its last reserves of power, encircled the demon and buried its fangs into the fiend’s fiery throat. At the same moment, it sent a mental plea to Tira, and the paladin didn’t hesitate. She leaped into the fire, plunging Kloinjer through the writhing serpent and deep into the demon’s flesh.

Then, the legend says, a powerful explosion rocked the entire kingdom of Galifar. The hot crimson fire became a cool silver flame. Tira remained within, now part of the divine fire that had replaced the evil conflagration. She became the Voice of the Silver Flame, and a new religion was born. Flamekeep, a simple stone castle, was erected around the ever-burning pillar of silver fire. Deep within the chasm, at the point where the fire erupts from the earth, it is said that mighty Kloinjer’s blade is buried almost to the hilt, binding demon, serpent, and paladin together forever.

The Formation of the Church

In time, the castle became a cathedral, and a city grew around it. By 400 YK, the Church of the Silver Flame was the dominant religion in Thrane. The Sovereign Host, accepting of most faiths, saw the Silver Flame as just another expression of the divine pantheon on Eberron. The Silver Flame, on the other hand, tolerated the Host but had little love for faiths that didn’t accept the cleansing light of the Silver Flame.

Over the centuries, the kings and queens of Galifar, and their sons and daughters who governed the Thrane realm, have had a mixed relationship with the faith of the Silver Flame. As the Thrane people began to turn to this faith in droves, the royal family was forced to accept the Church of the Silver Flame as a force within the kingdom. Early on, they tried to restrict it to Thrane, but the faithful were zealous, and missionaries soon appeared to bring word of the Silver Flame to the rest of Khorvaire. More than one scion over the centuries, while governing in Thrane, adopted the faith. One particularly dark episode occurred in 558 YK, when Queen Joliana reached the throne after serving as Thrane’s regent. She was a devoted follower of the Silver Flame, and decided that under her rule all of Galifar would accept the Silver Flame as the one true religion. A few bloody clashes almost led to civil war before Joliana died suddenly and mysteriously before the second year of her reign had ended.

The Last War

When Jarot died and the scions broke with tradition and started the Last War, Thalin of Thrane saw another opportunity to spread the Silver Flame to the entire kingdom. While the other scions had more personal or philosophical reasons for refusing to honor the traditional rights of succession, Thalin believed that he had a divine right to the crown. This tendency on the part of Thrane to place itself above the rest of the shattered kingdom led to some of the most terrible battles of the Last War.

In 914 YK, with the death of King Thalin, Thrane’s people rejected Thalin’s heir’s claim to the throne and turned to the Church of the Silver Flame for leadership. Thrane became a theocracy. The Keeper of the Flame, the head of the Church of the Silver Flame, took control of the temporal as well as the spiritual reins of the nation. This turn of events has led to tensions that go beyond the nation’s borders, as the leaders of the remaining Five Nations see the mingling of church with crown as unnatural and potentially dangerous to their own plans and ambitions.

Current Relations

Today, Jaela Daran serves as the Keeper of the Flame. She assumed power when she was six years old, identified by the Silver Flame as the successor to the church’s previous Keeper. Now eleven years old, Jaela helped guide Thrane through the peace talks and has developed into a caring and forceful leader despite her young age. It isn’t unusual for a Keeper so young to be selected, but it hasn’t happened since the nation became a theocracy.

War remains a primary preoccupation for the nation of Thrane. To Jaela’s advisors and the other leaders within the theocracy, the current peace presents a chance to rest and prepare for future conflict. Until all nations have accepted the Silver Flame, there will always be enemies at their borders waiting to exploit the first show of weakness or hesitation. Jaela believes that, with the exception of wiping out true evil, war is a futile endeavor.

The Silver Flame doesn’t call for war; indeed, she believes that the Flame is saddened by the conflict that has pitted brother against brother. Her power within the theocracy isn’t as ironclad as some believe, however, and she has learned to negotiate her course carefully and with much deliberation. As long as most of the spiritual and secular leaders of Thrane want war, the best Jaela can hope to accomplish is to delay the start for another day, week, or year.

Life in Thrane

Industries

Thrane has attempted to develop a closed economy since the start of the Last War that allows it to rely on itself and not require goods or services from beyond its own borders. The Thranes have not been entirely successful. They continue to make use of the services of the dragonmarked houses, and some amount of trade occurs between this nation and its neighbors. Thrane exports wool and textiles, some fruits, livestock, and fine crafts. Perhaps the most prominent export of Thrane is the missionaries of the Silver Flame. The followers of the Flame tenaciously promote their faith throughout the Five Nations and beyond. Most preach a tolerant version of the faith, but some zealous missionaries see little difference between true evil and those religions that don’t venerate the Silver Flame.

Thranites

Thrane’s citizenry consists of farmers, clerics, adepts, and a city-dwelling middle class. Most of the metropolitan centers are clustered in the eastern portion of the nation, along the waterways that empty into Scions Sound. Central and western Thrane feature mostly open fields, forests, and rolling farmland.

Religion, primarily the tenets of the Church of the Silver Flame, dominates life in the nation. In many towns and cities, devout followers of the Silver Flame outnumber the rest of the population, and in places such as Flamekeep they constitute an even larger majority. In the smaller villages and outlying hamlets and thorps, roughly half of the townsfolk are active church members.

The Church of the Silver Flame is of two minds when it comes to doctrine and practices: the dominant, more or less tolerant side, embodied by the Keeper of the Flame and her bishops and priests; and the small but vocal minority who fervently follow the Voice of the Silver Flame and take every pronouncement to its literal and extremely intolerant conclusion. On one hand, the church has developed into one of the strongest pillars of lawful good virtues in the world. On the other hand, its fanatical side has inspired inquisitions, crusades, and some of the worst atrocities ever committed in the name of a lawful good deity.

The Church of the Silver Flame influences everyday life across Thrane. Rituals, ceremonies, and codes of conduct inspired by the Voice of the Silver Flame direct the actions of the nation and its inhabitants. Even those few living in or visiting Thrane who don’t subscribe to the tenets of the faith must deal with its ramifications.

Priests and devout followers gather three times a day to celebrate the Mass of Silver Fire, and the faith starts every week with the Day of Cleansing Fire—a daylong devotion that includes prayer, fasting, and a recitation of the Nine Miracles of the Silver Flame performed in the Draconic tongue. During these various rituals and ceremonies, most nonessential activities in the nation stop so that everyone can meditate and reflect on the power and glory of the Silver Flame. The cities and towns of Thrane witnessed a proliferation of art and architecture designed to pay homage and glorify the Silver Flame.

Between 325 YK and 700 YK, the Flamic style was pioneered and perfected. Visions of the Silver Flame and Tira Miron dominated the work of painters and sculptors, and later prominent and influential Keepers of the Flame also began to be immortalized in artwork. Architects, meanwhile, used light and soaring spaces to symbolize the nation’s devotion to the Silver Flame. Such construction techniques give the urban centers of Thrane a distinct religious look and are unparalleled anywhere else in Khorvaire, a style and presence that constantly reminds the population that Thrane worships the Silver Flame.

Religion

The Church of the Silver Flame holds sway throughout Thrane. The Sovereign Host has a small presence, particularly Dol Arrah and Dol Dorn.

Major Settlements

All of Thrane’s population centers are located in the nation’s eastern regions, along the waterways that spill into Scions Sound.

Flamekeep

Metropolis

Population 650,000

Flamekeep grew as the Church of the Silver Flame gained prominence. Built around the impressive Cathedral of the Silver Flame, the city displays Flamic architecture at its grandest and most inspiring. As the capital of the nation’s secular and religious authorities, Flamekeep is a place of power and influence.

The Chamber of the Flame

Located deep within the Cathedral of the Silver Flame, this is the place where the holy light of the Silver Flame burns and the Keeper of the Flame comes to commune with the Voice of the Silver Flame. Pilgrims devoted to the faith travel to this holy site to pray, pay homage, and hope for miracles.

Shadukar

Once called the Jewel of the Sound, Shadukar is now a scorched ruin built into the side of a rocky shelf looking north toward Thronehold. Many Thranes believe the ruins are haunted. Karrnathi soldiers stormed the city of Shadukar in 965 YK. The city’s defenders were not expecting a Karrn attack from Cyre, especially one accomplished using soarwood skiffs that could glide across the Brey River. The Karrnathi troops took control of the city in a matter of hours and held the city hostage for two years. During that time, they looted and pillaged what they could. They let Thranes die of famine and massacred entire families. They animated dead Karrns and Thranes to reinforce their dwindling ranks. Thrane forces from Flamekeep laid siege to the city, but they couldn’t punch through its defenses. In 967 YK, the Karrns finally withdrew, burning the city to the ground as they left. The Knights of Thrane and their cleric allies were able to destroy many undead spilling out of the city, but the damage and loss of life was staggering. The remains of the city are, to this day, still shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke that never seems to disappate, with many raised troops still active in the rubble, now attacking anything that enters the city. Though a token force has been assembled outside of the former city's borders to keep watch for any remaining undead, any recovery efforts have been long abandoned. Ask any Thrane about Shadukar, and they'll tell you it’s a cursed ruin ruled by ghosts.