Salvar: A Comprehensive Guide

[Ashiakin]

Salvar is the northernmost known country in Althanas. It borders the dark elven nation of Alerar to the south, the frozen wasteland of Berevar to the north, and vast oceans to the east and west. The ancient, sprawling city of Knife's Edge is the capital.

Although a mighty civilization ruled the landmass now known as Salvar over ten thousand years ago, it was eviscerated during the Wars of the Tap and little is known about it today. Salvar, as it exists currently, began to emerge around four thousand years ago and has been a vibrant and important part of Althanas ever since. The nation is currently ruled by a near-absolute monarch, but the government contains some feudal and theocratic aspects.

Almanac Entry

Name: Kingdom of Salvar
Capital: Knife's Edge
Government: Monarchy
Ruler: King of Salvar
Races: 92% humans, 4% dark elves, 3% dwarves, 1% others
Language: Salvic
Nationality: Salvaran
Adjective: Salvic
Religion: The Church of the Ethereal Sway
Legal System: Mix of religious and civil law
Technology: Late medieval with nascent industry
Major Exports: Raw materials, lumber, skins and furs
Natural Resources: Timber, metals, beasts
Terrain: Farmlands, pine forests, tall mountains, frozen lakes, snowy plains
Climate and Seasons: Long, harsh winters with modest growing seasons
Natural Hazards: Avalanches, landslides, blizzards, floods, earthquakes

Government

The most powerful figure in Salvar’s government is the monarch, who has near-autocratic control over the country, directing the military, foreign policy, and domestic policy with absolute power. Additionally, he has much influence over the powerful state religion, the Church of the Ethereal Sway. All the nobles who rule the myriad fiefdoms that make up Salvar are sworn to carry out the monarch’s will.

The monarch of Salvar rules from Knife’s Edge, one of the realm's few large cities. In addition to acting to as King or Queen of Salvar, the monarch also rules as the Grand Duke/Duchess of Knife’s Edge, which puts him or her in direct control of much of the populous, prosperous river-lands around the Ahyark Mountains.

Law and justice in the kingdom are overseen and carried out by the noble rulers of individual fiefdoms and by the officials of the Church of the Ethereal Sway. While the nobles may try and punish criminals for any petty crimes (theft, rape, murder) that occur on their lands, it is the Church of the Ethereal Sway that deals with crimes against the state (treason, assassination, conspiracy.) The noble rulers of the fiefdoms that make up Salvar may rule as they please over their territory, as long as they obey the orders of the King and the Church of the Ethereal Sway.

Religion

The Church of the Ethereal Sway is the only church that is legally allowed to operate within Salvar’s borders. It dominates most aspects of Salvic government and daily life. Every fiefdom in Salvar is required to have a Church on its ground, as much to provide religious services as it is for the monarchy and the Church hierarchy to be able to keep a watchful eye on the activities of the local governments.

The religion itself is centered on the worship of spirit-beings known as the Ethereal Sway, who were said to have traveled to Salvar from another world and guided its leader so as to lead the nation to greatness. After leading Salvar to a golden age, the Sway vanished and no one has had contact with them for a thousand years. The Church was created to bring the Sway back to Salvar by ensuring that the government enacts the proper laws and that citizens follow the correct practices in their daily lives.

This has lead to a church that is authoritarian and invasive. Its legal powers allow it to detain, torture, and execute those they feel are preventing Salvar from attaining its religious goals. While the Church has objectives of its own, the King is allowed to appoint the Church’s leader, the Justice, and so maintains a strong hand on it.

Geography

While a foreigner’s stereotypical view of Salvar is that it is a frozen, snow-laden wasteland, this view does not hold true for much of the country. Southern Salvar, which runs along the wide river that marks the border with Alerar, has a mild climate and is dominated by rolling hills and agreeable farmlands. The valleys around the capital city of Knife’s Edge are particularly fertile.

It is when traveling further north that the weather becomes harsher, with the landscape dominated by chilly pine forests and jagged hills. Further north of even that are lands that the government only nominally lays claims to—snowy plains, towering mountains, and dense forests, all dominated by tribal bands, giants, and many dangerous creatures. Berevar, a mysterious and uncharted arctic area, lies beyond that, though few have ever seen it and returned to tell of it.

[Christoph]

The Church of the Ethereal Sway

The Church of the Ethereal Sway is the largest, most powerful religion in Salvar, and possibly the entire known world. Its influence stretches encompasses the entire kingdom, dominating its people spiritually. Their missionaries preach law, order, purity, and the dominance of the human race with inspiring sermons while their zealots preach all of the above with steel, faith, and fire.

The Church was instrumental to the rise of Salvar following the War of the Tap. While few know the circumstances surrounding the appearance of these Spirit Beings known as the Ethereal Sway, the religion that resulted from their intervention provided unity, faith, and divine favor to the fledgling empire as it grew in the wake of the War of the Tap.

The Church is a law unto itself, trying and executing traitors, witches, and heretics for a wide variety of crimes, perceived or otherwise. These include witchcraft, corruption, demonology, worshiping other gods, and, for the most radical agents, even being not human (though the Dark Elves and Dwarves seem exempt). The fearful image of a black-robed witch hunter brandishing a torch and the emblem of the All-Seeing Eye is a common nightmare, and a story often told to misbehaving children by their mothers. Large-scale witch-hunts, though fairly rare, are commonplace enough in the Salvar to be perpetuate fear – which is exactly what the leaders of the Church want. The tales of entire villages wiped out for impurity are still whispered from the lips of those bold enough to speak them.

For all of the dark stigma, the Ethereal Sway continues to do a lot of good all across the region. Their witch hunters root out infernal forces, necromancers, and other evil threats to civilization. The power of faith maintains order and internal peace in the kingdom where there had once been chaos and bloodshed. Their missionaries feed and clothe the poor, and help rebuild villages, and their churches always welcome weary travelers of the homeless.


The Church and Magic

From its very founding, the Church of the Ethereal Sway has preached an alarmingly anti-magic rhetoric. Some scholars believe that this resulted from the War of the Tap. Though having ended thousands of years before the founding of the Church, it is theorized that the first generation of clergy had found some ancient surviving records and relics from the civilization that had inhabited the region prior to the War of the Tap, and these likely described the catastrophic destruction wrought by out of control magic in that conflict. Other, bolder researchers have speculated that there might have been a different motive behind this doctrine. While magic itself isn’t illegal, it must be sanctioned, supervised, and controlled by the Church. While the witch hunters scour the countryside and city streets for witches, other agents hide within the dungeons beneath Saint Denebriel’s Cathedral, studying and experimenting on sorcerers, shamans, and the like.

The Church has remained vigilant, doing its best to stamp out any magical influence not under their control before it spreads like an infection. The age is changing, however. The resources of the Church have been stretched thin and her leaders have grown complacent, even as the instances of illegal magic seem to rise every year. The very brave few whisper that magic will soon surge back from the shadows and into prominence and freedom in the nation once more. Many would risk everything to make that a reality, and many more would do anything to make sure it doesn’t happen.