Anolic States
The Anolic States are a province of the Triamic Empire consisting of a number of small kingdoms and similar regions. Each is culturally distinct and fiercely independent.
Geography
The Anolic States are located in the the northwest of the Empire. The area largely consists of temperate highlands, the terrain particularly uneven in the northeast where they butt up against the Wight Mountains.
Structure
The Anolic States are somewhat unique, as an imperial province. Like the other provinces, they are given leave to rule how they see fit under the strictures of the Empire, but the province has no single figurehead or ruling body. Instead, it is up to each individual state leader to interpret and enforce the laws of the Empire in their own lands. The Emperor and Triam in turn take a fairly laissez faire attitude toward the states, allowing them to act with little oversight so long as taxes keep coming in.
House presence among the leadership is significantly lower than in most other provinces (the other being the merchant princes of the Dusk Isles). In fact, many state heads come from bloodlines that are historically significant to the region rather than hailing from any of the Houses. Among these Anolic leaders, it is largely believed this general lack of House ties may be part of why the Triamic Council (a House-based institution) and the Emperor have so little interest in what happens in the states.
History
Once, as today, the Anolic Kingdoms were known for their elasticity. Small nations have been rising and falling in the region for a thousand years, usually toppled by their neighbors.
Lumina - 530-160 BEC
In 533 BEC, the Great Plague ravaged Estana, alleviated only by Sheyla healers that were sent out in the name of the Kaelic Temple. In the wake of the plague, the Kaelic Temple began gathering communities under their banner, calling the new theocracy Lumina.
This included the leaders of the Anolic region, many of whom had been saved through Sheyla intervention. The region wasn't a monolith, however, and several kingdoms revolted against the idea of Lumina rule. They were generally brought to heel over the course of the Kaelic Crusades (533-501 BEC).
For a while, the Anolics were Lumina vassals, with some instances of minor revolts. Then, in 160 BEC, something happened that caused most of the Anolics to rise up against Lumina. Legend has it an Avatar of Onn was involved, while others claim it was the Deathmage. Whatever happened, a bloody civil war broke out.
Some say that Halenna intervened in the name of peace. Others claim that Onn was with His avatar. Others claim it was Tahayne's will in the first place. Whatever the case, Lumina inexplicably lost, despite their superior numbers and magic. The Anolic Kingdoms were, on the whole, released to become independent states again, with the exception of a few small exclaves in the Anolic region that willingly remained under Lumina control.
The Anolic Kingdoms were not again considered one single entity until the Black Powder War. In 139 EC, after seven years defending against the Shaali forces that had based themselves in the Fractured Isles, the remaining Anolic Kingdoms unanimously agreed to join the much larger and more powerful Triamic Empire as a matter of their own safety--an option the Triamic Empire jumped upon primarily for the opportunity to get Nodes from the newly created Imperial Psychic Network to the northern front lines.
Since then, even the small Triamic oversight that the States experience has limited internal military conflict (though not entirely prevented it). Diplomatic conflict, on the other hand, is something of the provincial sport.
Demography and Population
The people of the Anolic States are hardy and fiercely independent. The region is almost exclusively populated by Imperials, most of whom follow the Kaelic Temple, at least nominally.
Type
Geopolitical, Province
Demonym
Anolic
Parent Organization
Location
Related Ethnicities
The Triamic Empire
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