Aetolia
Where the Hunt Remembers
"Oaths are etched in stone, and the forests remember every lie."
Overview
Aetolia lies in the rugged heart of western Greece, a territory carved by mountains, cloaked in mists, and whispered about in the old tales. It is a land where the wild and the sacred coexist—untamed forests shadow lonely stone temples, and wolves prowl paths worn by ancient heroes.
This region is less polished than the glittering cities of the south. Its people are hunters, raiders, and mystics, often seen as rough or uncivilized by their southern kin—but among them flow old blood and older loyalties. They speak in terse words and long silences, swearing oaths on stones older than the gods.
Aetolia is bordered by the waters of the Gulf of Korinth to the south, and bounded by harsh highlands to the north. Its cities are sparse and stern—Thermon, with its sacred fires and war councils; Calydon, haunted by the ghost of its legendary boar; and forgotten hillforts left to ivy and echo.
Cultural Idenity
Values
Loyalty, endurance, personal honor, ancestral oaths
Customs
- Oathcarving – Binding promises are etched into stone with bone or iron; breaking one is a curse upon the bloodline
- Silent Feasts – Meals after funerals are taken without speech, to honor the weight of memory
Art & Music
Drum chants and low-throated laments echo through hills; carvings favored over painting
Language/Dialect
Direct, clipped, and metaphor-heavy; silence is often more potent than words
Religion
Primary Deities Worshipped:
Artemis – not as gentle huntress, but as wrathful guardian of wild justice
Apollo - A god of prophecy and healing, connected to The Anthelian
Hades – honored not for death, but for guarding ancestral truths
Sacred Sites:
The Temple of Apollo in Thermon-all white columns and eternal flame a place of prophecy
The Shrine of the Tusk in Calydon – built around a massive fang said to be from the original Boar
Festivals & Rites:
Festival of the Tusk (Autumn): A reenactment of the Calydonian Hunt in mask and flame, ending in blood-oath renewals
Factions and Organizations
- The Order of Apollo:
- A cult dedicated to upholding the duties of the Anthelian, protecting and collecting prophecy
- War-Council Tribes:
- Each hillfort holds its own elders or warband leaders. Unified only in crisis, but fierce in local loyalty.
- Absent Central Power:
- Aetolia has no ruling monarch or stable bureaucracy. Power is sacred and personal, sworn in blood or silence.
Mythic History
Founding Legend:
Aetolia was shaped by the footsteps of forgotten heroes. Some say the first oaths of man were sworn here, older than Olympus itself.
Curses & Relics:
- The Calydonian Boar: Sent by Artemis as punishment, it was no mere beast—it was a living curse given flesh.
- Boar's Fang of Calydon: Said to pulse during omens or when the gods turn their gaze on the land
Known Prophecies:
N/A
Geography
Location:
Western Hellas, north of the Gulf of Corinth
Terrain:
Rugged highlands, forested valleys, winding river trails, steep ridgelines
Climate:
Cool and damp; thick mists in spring and fall; harsh, snow-touched winters in the mountains
Unique Natural Features:
- The Mistwood – a vast, shadowed forest said to blur memory and space
- Ghostwater Vale – a silent marsh where no birds sing, rumored to be the resting place of oathbreakers
- Oathstone Cliffs – sheer granite faces carved with ancient runes and ceremonial scars
Major Cities or Settlements
- The City of Calydon
- The City of Thermon
- Hillforts and Hermitages- Dozens of ivy-strangled watchposts and long-abandoned strongholds dot the highlands.
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