The Castinellan Provinces

Scorched and hardened by the ruthless heat and wind, the people of Castinella are fierce, festive, and faithful. The southernmost part of Etharis offers both great opportunities and great challenges to those brave enough to seize them. Sailing, farming, mining, warring—nothing is outside the Castinellans’ potential, backed by the strength of their rigorous codes and passionate faith.
The teachings of the Divine Arch Seraphs—especially Empyreus, Arch Seraph of Valor—have slowly but surely transformed the provinces into a militarist theocracy, with a fierce mistrust of spellcasters. But recently, new challenges to the sacred Seraphic Teachings have thrown the population into disarray. Conflict has escalated to the point where the Arcanist Inquisition has launched a crusade to burn every magically gifted being in the Castinellan Provinces... and beyond.

LANDSCAPE

The Castinellan Provinces are a harsh land pincered between mountain and sea. It is a windswept peninsula, bounded by sea to east and west, with an irregular mountain spine running from north to south. The west coast faces the Gulf of Lions, where trade routes lead towards the city-state of Morencia and the Charneault Kingdom. The east coast is wilder and less inhabited, exposed to the strong winds from the Great Eastern Sea.
Although the sea is never far, the provinces mostly suffer from a dry climate, due to the combined effects of constant winds and scorching heat. In that context, water has become the most precious resource, and the bigger cities have emerged on the shores of the few rivers flowing from the mountains, or, in the case of the great Salves River, from the northern part of Etharis.

The Mines of Cordova

The mountain spine running north to south through Castinella has its foothills in Corova, the northern part of Castinella. There, many mining towns have emerged to exploit the numerous minerals available.

Faro Riverlands

in the South of Castinella, the Salves splits into two huge branches before flowing into the sea. The land around and between the river arms is the most fertile of all Castinella, and high forests stand on the riversides wherever the land has not been cleared for farming.

Vineyards of Sante Viegre

In the southernmost part of Castinella, the mountain chain abruptly breaks up into many strange mountain protrusions called the Shattered Peaks, with the Dragonborn city of Ember Cairn in their centre. Many small rivers run between these peaks, and the area, called Sante Viegre, has become dense with vineyards.

HISTORY

The Great War

In the Era of Expansion, war between humans and other races in Castinella and threatened to engulf all of Etharis. With most details lost to the past, only the greatest tragedies of the time are remembered, and one such is the destruction of Ember Cairn.
The south of Castinella was once the homeland of the Dragonborn race, and Ember Cairn was their most ancient and glorious city. But the Great Purge saw it destroyed, and legends tell that the mountains themselves were shaken in the catastrophe, and thus shaped into the Shattered Peaks.

With their homeland destroyed, the Dragonborn scattered throughout Etharis, avoiding further involvement in the war and searching for new meaning.

The Story of the Unifier

Long after the events of the Great War, three provinces of Toletum, Faro, and Therpena took shape in Castinella, and continuously fought over the rich but unforgiving lands until they reached a violent equilibrium. Each time one province gained a dominant position, the other two would ally to bring it down and restore the stalemate. Therefore, none of the belligerents managed to overcome their counterparts for good until the time of Montego Valieda, the Unifier.
Valieda was the perfect example of Castinellan valor, but he was also a clever strategist. Born in the foothills of the Corova mountains, he led the Toletum forces to victory against both its rivals. However, he knew that without a significant advantage the Corovans could not prevail in the long term, as history had proven.

Valieda departed to wander the highest part of the mountains, a particularly dangerous area subject to sudden, violent storms, and reputedly unexploitable for mining. Whether by destiny or luck, Valieda was spared from the storms and came back, claiming to have had a revelation from the Arch Seraph Empyreus. The Sword Saint, as many called Empyreus, had apparently invested Valieda with the holy task of unifying all Castinellan Provinces, not under the rule of Corova or any other province, but under the sacred rules of the Arch Seraph himself. To help in this task, Valieda claimed, the Seraph had led him to a hidden valley where he revealed an exceptional vein of gold. Valieda quickly hired miners to exploit the vein and thus fuel Corova’s economy and war effort.
Valieda proclaimed his new allegiance to Empyreus and his intention of transforming Castinella into a theocracy, to put an end to the exhausting wars between the three provinces. His words became a motto that is still spoken by many clerics, priests and inquisitors: “He who fights for himself shall fear death, for his steps are led by lust, and his deeds will fall into oblivion. But he who fights for Empyreus fears nothing, for his steps are led by the Eternal Dogma, and his deeds pave the way towards the Golden Age.” Valieda and his followers proceeded to spread the teachings of the Arch Seraph to the three provinces. In time they gained complete theocratic influence over the provinces of Faro and Therpena, as their newly formed religion gained more war-weary followers. Finally, when they were unable to rally the last remnants of resistance to the holy cause, they overcame them either by gold or by iron and fire.

The Rise of the Arcanist Inquisition

After unifying the three provinces, Sagrado Valieda ordered the creation of the religious order called the Arcanist Inquisition, whose function was to control and limit the use of magic in the provinces. According to what the Arch Seraph Empyreus had told Valieda, magic was a curse that endangered its wielders and everyone who associated with them. The Inquisitors patrolled the provinces, spreading their teachings about the dangers of magic, stirring mistrust in the population. After some time, they began to arrest those known to be magically gifted and brought them to their cells, where they would supposedly live a life of humble service to the Arch Seraph. The Inquisitors were eager to find these people at the youngest possible age, as they claimed the threat of magic could be more easily contained in the young whose magical abilities had not fully emerged.
Sagrado Valieda later returned to the land of the Shattered Peaks among the Dragonborn. As missionaries of the Arch Seraph Empyreus spread their teachings across Etharis, some Dragonborn migrated back to the Castinellan Provinces. After centuries of wandering and resentment from the abandonment of their dragon gods, the scattered Dragonborn people had left behind their ancestral religion. Hence, they showed little hesitation to take hold of the new light that Empyreus offered. Seeing this, Sagrado Valieda seized the opportunity to strengthen Castinella and the Empyreus theocracy even more. He announced that all Dragonborn were welcome to reconstruct their former city of Ember Cairn, fallen eons ago, as long as they were raising it to the glory of Empyreus. As the Dragonborn were now the most zealous followers of the Divine Seraph, Valieda made Ember Cairn the headquarters of his newly created Arcanist Inquisition and raised the Cathedral of Embers.

Recent Events

With the three provinces unified and a growing new state religion, the next step for the Castinellan Provinces was to turn their ambitious gaze outside, to the north and west. The city-state of Morencia was reaching its apogee, so it was a valuable and challenging target for the servants of the Divine Seraph Empyreus. After a few decades of unsuccessful intrigues and power struggles, the Castinellans took up arms and launched a surprise attack on Morencia. By suborning a member of the Morencian Navigators Guild, the Castinellan fleet was able to pass through the island-city’s magical barrier, the Misty Reefs. However, the intervention of the Charneault Kingdom ruined the Castinellan plans, and though they inflicted heavy losses to the Morencian fleet, they finally lost the naval battle.
One of the ships within the defeated armada, the Fiery Lady, was cast adrift and driven far to the south, then to the east, by relentless winds. At this point, the ship had completely run out of supplies, but the crew had finally repaired the ship enough to control its course, and headed to the northwest in hope of finding land before they starved. But they made a surprising discovery during their approach to the coast: the submerged ruins of what seemed to be a vast complex. Unable to explore the ruins at the time, the captain noted enough information to find the ruins again in the future. Yet at that moment Castinellan society was turned towards the future, and the clergy proclaimed the ruins nothing more than more proof of mistakes made in the past.

Some time later, however, rumours spread within Castinella that the Thaumaturge, a powerful confederation of archmages, had infiltrated the Castinellan Provinces and was about to take action against the theocracy. It is unknown if the rumours had anything to do with the discovery of the ruins, or with the Castinellan Provinces’ provocative attack on Morencia, but the rumours spread all over the provinces, accusing the magic hating theocracy of a hidden, hypocritical agenda.
These rumours were officially denied and declared heretical, a brand that extended to anyone even repeating the rumours. The Arcanist Inquisition launched the Great Purge in the provinces, redoubling their efforts to find spellcasters and, this time, to burn them. The same terrible fate also awaits anyone caught calling the Seraphic Teachings into question.

PEOPLE

A Strongly Codified Society

Light of Empyreus, A War State Religion

The uncompromising nature of the Arch Seraph Empyreus is reflected in the laws that have transformed Castinellans’ way of life. However, if there’s no doubt that the unified Castinellan theocracy represents a major change for the three provinces, it would also be a lie to say that there were no grounds for its establishment. Indeed, strength, courage, and honour have long been valued among the Castinellans long before the time of the Unifier. With these three concepts at the core of Empyreus’ teachings, the adoption of the faith to the Arch Seraph was natural. The aspect of Castinellan life changed most profoundly by Empyreus’ teachings was the practice of war.
Before the unification, Castinellans were quick to declare war on their neighbours over almost any provocation or pretext. In proclaiming his new faith, Sagrado Valieda achieved the considerable feat of channeling Castinellans’ desire for war in one unique direction: the Righteous War, fought for a greater cause. Knowing their people could not become peace-loving overnight, Valieda and the clergy carefully crafted rules under which war would be waged. In fact, every form of law enforcement or other violent action became subject to detailed regulations. By creating a legal framework for violence, they bound and justified violence with higher ideals. This permitted them to easily subdue rebellions during the unification, declaring righteous war upon whomever dared to rise against the words of the clergy. Military Organisation
As a military theocracy, the Castinellan Provinces have adopted a uniform, rigorous military structure that mingles populations from the three provinces and at the same time boosts military efficiency. Each military force is inspired by the representation of the Arch Seraph Empyreus, structured as follows:
The Head: the commanding army corps, led by a High Priest of Empyreus and their escort of fifty Dragonborn paladins, with four commanders leading each of the other army corps and also escorted by fifty elite soldiers. The Core: four Toletum Squares, each consisting of four hundred soldiers. The Wings: two companies of Therpenan War Riders, each company numbering four hundred riders divided into four “Swords” of a hundred riders each. The Legs: the logistical army corps, including artillery and supplies, moving in armoured carts. The Heel: the rearguard army corps, composed of two elite Swords of Therpenan war riders and two heavy squares of four hundred heavy armoured pikemen and swordsmen.

Each Castinellan soldier is expected to serve two years in at least two different army corps, ensuring flexibility when reorganising troops during long military campaigns. Moreover, this distributes seasoned soldiers throughout the Castinellan armies, further enhancing their resilience.

Castinellans, a Lively and Spirited People

Welcoming and Festive

When they are not fighting for the greater good, Castinellans are eager to celebrate. They have many occasions, and many ways, to do so—be it the birth of a child or the end of a werewolf hunt, they rejoice and feast, sometimes for several days. Music and dance are always a major part of the celebrations, even if bound by rigorous customs. The musicians are exclusively males while the women enthrall the public with frenzied dances around a huge fire. Such is the way of things in Castinella, even in these dark times when spellcasters are persecuted without mercy. But for those who show no sign of magical impurity and who respect the Castinellan customs, there is always a place around the fire.

From Grudges and Vendetta to The Righteous War

The dark side of the Castinellans temper is, without doubt, their haste to turn to anger and violence when they feel that their honour has been violated.
Small quarrels have often resulted in small wars between families, and on many occasions no mercy was shown to the losing side. For centuries, grudges would be counted and transmitted over generations until the opportunity arose to enact a bloody vendetta. But after the unification, violence became a more regulated component of life in the Castinellan Provinces. Any act of war had to be supported by the clergy, who more often than not sent a group of Inquisitors to investigate the real motives of the belligerents. This slowed the outbreaks of violence, as those who dared to go against the sacred law were excommunicated and their property confiscated by the Empyreus clergy. The disgraced were allowed to fight the Righteous War against the blasphemous in order to end their unworthy lives and seize their lands and goods for the benefit of Empyreus.
Of course, clashes between families and even regions did not completely stop, but they are now scrutinously supervised by the clergy, who authorizes them only when it actually serves its own interests.