Renelia
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- This page is about Renelia..
Contents
History
Ancient History
The people of Renelia claim descent from the nation’s namesake - Renelia, who they believe to be daughter of Velulaei, first High Matriarch of the Mali’ker. In what is known as the Aetah’niut, or the Second Age, Malin’s Kingdom ruled in the continent of Axios. From his daughters, the beautiful and intelligent Velulaei was chosen to conduct research into higher powers, and in her travels was corrupted by an ancient curse. It was only through Luara’s salvation, Uvuligne’aher, known in common as the Blessing of Ash, that the corruption worming through her mind was halted. In the years that followed, Magara’lin, the City of Caverns, was founded by Velulaei’s directive, and in time it became a sprawling metropolis. For an unknown reason, Uradras, partner to Velulaei, and the other clans of the First Age made the decision to abandon Magara’lin, in what is simply called ‘The Exile’. For the remainder of the Aetah’niut, and into the Aetah’hael, the Third Age, which began with the second rise of Iblees, the Ashen Folk would be laid low by the consequences of Uradras’ Council - a Mali’ker state would not find dominance again. With the belief that it was the loss of ancient traditions that caused the fall of the greater Mali’ker, the Renelian Union has deemed fit to release such information as necessary for the common populace to integrate itself into the ancient practices of Velulaei’s people.
It is of important note that the Renelians of more traditional stock are descended from one of the Kulin’telu Laureh’ker - the Fifty Noblesse, a group of traditionalists that assisted Renelia in escaping from her father Uradras in order to found a successor state to Magara’lin.
Magara'lin
The Azulites
(As told by the Renelias)
In the twilight of Magara’lin, great capital of the Mali’ker, the firstborn son and most favored child of Velulaei, whose given name was Azul, decided himself and his people worthy of far more. It was his belief that the Ashen Folk, those Elves of great beauty and wit, could create for themselves an empire upon the ashes of their cousins in the forests and towers. It was his opinion, in opposition to his mother, to his father, to his clan and to the great majority of his people, that they belonged on the surface - for they had built an underground realm after their corruption of appearance, but in their own time Malin’s other children had also undergone transformations. His people, called simply the Azulites, in the tongue of Magara’lin the Azulan, had long chafed at their self-imprisonment. He agreed, and in a bid to change society from its peak, he called his mother to the tallest peak in the realm.
It was there that Azul and his followers laid low the matriarch of our folk - under the light of the full moon, Azul was said to have stabbed into Velulaei’s chest a dagger of corroded iron, a gesture thought to have been his own metaphor for her weakness, her corruption of our people. She fell, and he stared as his mother’s blood stained the rock at his feet. As the moon began to fall and Magara’lin slept with it, though, he decided his matricide was not enough. Thousands of loyal followers of Velulaei and Luara died in the chaos now called Velulaei’maliear, the Moon’s Betrayal, and Azul’s evil cause was brought to light - for he so obviously desired not the salvation of the Ashen Folk, but their decimation. It was in the greatest of the Moon Spirit’s temples, the Luara’okarn, where the worst of the atrocities were committed. Two hundred naeri, or priestesses, lived under the Moon Spirit’s auspices; ten lived through the night. The progenitor of the Velulaei’onn was among them - perhaps spared for her relation to Azul, young Renelia, daughter of Velulaei, survived the slaughter by hiding within a recently doused ceremonial pit. In the morning, the civil war truly began between the Vindicators and the Azulites. Renelia, still a child, did not participate, yet the religious strata of the City of Caverns soon too found themselves ruined - the war between her father and brother had left the temples nearly devoid of sacrifice without the instruction of Velulaei, for such resources could be far better used in the feeding of a Vindicator army.
Order is remembered to have ruled the day, for in time the Vindicators captured Azul, inflicted upon him a horrendous, indefinite punishment, and locked him within Magaralin’s deepest caves. The children of Velulaei, however, would be taught differently - for was it not just as soon as they opened communications with other elves that they abandoned her teachings and left their ancient homes for a future among forests? Were Luara’s commands not forgotten, their own traditions lost? Renelia joined the fleet with everyone else - tied into a bundle and forced by her father to follow their peoples’ will. When they arrived, and she freed of her bonds, a group of fifty left Laurelin. They would be stricken from history, a ban placed on their names - for to leave the clans was akin to insanity, no? Upon its uncloaking, the Renelians, as they called themselves, found that perhaps it was not so.
Modern History
The Union of Renelia Gladewynn
The Kingdom of Renelia
Wars
Culture and society
The Renelians
Fashion
Religion
The Kervira, or Moon’s Vigil, is both the name of the most ancient of Mali’ker religious rites and of the religion it so profoundly encompasses. It teaches that the Shrieking Night, that disease of the mind which so destroyed the Maehr scholars from which all Mali’ker descend, was only staved off by Luara’s Descent, the night in which Luara, the Spirit of the Moon, and Velulaei, daughter of Malin, made a pact – that for all time to come, Luara would protect the Mali’ker against the Shrieking Night, and in return sacrifice and prayer would be offered to the spirit.
Its founder, and thereby also its first head, is the near-mythical Velulaei – the High Matriarch of the metropolis of Magara’lin whose society eclipsed any and all Mali’ker states to follow it. Her difficult decisions allowed the Maehr to survive to become the Ashen Folk, and her emphasis on religion, culture and society created an era of peace and prosperity that lasted a millennium. It is because of this influence that the Renelians, to date, live in temple-cities centered around Luara’okarn, Sanctuaries of Luara – for in the years and centuries following her death, there was only chaos among the Ashen Folk.
The Matriarch is the head of the Kervira faith, chosen by the Archon as a worthy successor to Velulaei’s religious mantle, if not also her cultural and political standing, and is responsible both for the upkeeping of religious traditions and other rituals, but the conversion of aberrant Mali’ker to some form of Luaran worship. It is also her obligation to head the Kervira festival every five years at the minimum, which lasts a month from full moon to full moon, and to appoint naeri, or priestesses. The Matriarch and her naeri must always be female, so as to protect religious custom from military corruption and split-second decisions.
The Matriarch of the Kervira faith, should she wish, may designate three Lesser Patriarchs – Mali’ker males of pure stock that have shown particular reverence in their worship of Luara, or assisted in some monumental way. They are the Book, the Mask, and the Blade of the Matriarch, in reference to Velulaei’s original three assistants, and while holding no duties and not allowed to perform rites in the stead of naeri or the Matriarch, they may be allowed access into the inner halls of the Luara’okarn – given the additional approval of the Archon.
The Gold Seers
Politics
Army
The Order of Kheltiruai
Succession
The Council
Aristocracy
The Assembly
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