Atlas Elyden #58 - Cuth and Krem

Here's map #58 of the Atlas Elyden, depicting the two nations of Cuth and Krem.

You can find an updated key to the map here.

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A History of Cuth & Krem
The histories of Cuth and Krem are entwined, and date back to the Acacinnathi empire, which ended in the Fourth Age, before the Shadow War brought about the Fading of the age.

Acacinnath is thought to have been populated by humans, as well as shie and keratin, and stretched from the Pthassal’os mountains in the north to the coastal highlands of Cuthadduan in the south, and as far inland as the present day city of Yapuan, in the centre of Krem. The Acacinnathi people grew wealthy from land and sea trade along the Iapetan and Balimann seas, and spent much of their fortune attempting to tame the potent supranatural effects of the Cinnabar Wastes, whose dirt was known since ancient times to make those who consume it close with the Materia Omna, potentially making them powerful shapers. But the consumption of this dust is not without its risks, with seizures, comas and death all common results. Succeeding in preparing the dust in a way that was easily palatable, the Acacinnathi rulers grew powerful, becoming wise beyond measure, but it was not to last.

The true fate of Acacinnath is ultimately unknown, but it collapsed some decades later, before the Shadow War consumed the Fourth Age, eventually ending it.

As the dust of the war settled, scattered groups of mortals would emerge, spreading across the ruins of their old homes. By c. -1500 - -900 RM, the so-called tribes of Ad would repopulate the eastern-most ruins of Acacinnath, moving slowly west as serapis and saurholms attacked them from their domains in the Turcar desert. These attacks prevented the tribes of Ad from settling down, and they were forced ever-west, quarreling amongst themselves as they defended against serapi attacks.

But by c. -880 RM, the charismatic warlord Bokkorn was able to unite many of the disparate tribes of Ad. together they constructed a great cob wall, Dar Cinnra, which at its peak stretched for over 500-miles in what is today the east of Krem, which stalled the serapi attacks. By the time of his death in c. -870 RM, Bokkorn had united all the tribes of Ad under  singular vision and they were able to fend off the attacks. This respite gave them enough time to settle down around the river Sebbaddi, where they founded the city of Ad Piyan in c. -800 RM.

From this city would the domains of Ad eventually grow, moving steadily W until they encountered the great city-state of Mon Kettra at the coast in c. - 720RM. Already a powerful influence in the region, its king demanded the explorers abandon their allegiances and pledge loyalty to him. They refused, and were executed, their heads sent back east. Amongst the dead was a prince of Ad Piyan. When word of his death reached the city, its rulers declared war on Mon Kettra. For decades they fought, besieging satellites of the great Mon Kettra, even as its cavalry moved east, attacking the cities of Ad.

This war continued until c.-600 RM, ending only with the destruction of Ad Piyan and its dependencies, whose survivors were absorbed by Mon Kettra, which by then had become a great kingdom.

What men and women survived the destruction of Ad Piyan scattered east, where they reclaimed the lands surrounding the wall of Dar Cinnra; and south, where they disappeared beyond the great Mo-orassim mountains. Some settled the area around the Kyonkher desert, becoming nomads who survive there to this day; whereas others continued south, where they met the fishermen of the Braggay lagoons. Together they would found the state of Motanta, which by -200 RM would come to dominate the lands around the lagoons of Braggay, as far north as the fortress of Hatada, which survives to this day.

Meanwhile, Mon Kettra continued to grow, becoming an empire hungry for resources. It spread south, destroying struggling Nathi colonies, surpassing the extent of the ancient Acacinnathi empire, subjugating the city of Hammon from where its armies consolidated and spread farther south and east, taking over the city states of the region with little resistance, crossing the southernmost extent of the Mo-orassim mountains in the spring of -174 RM.

What  it encountered on the other side of the highlands is well-documented. The armies of Mon Kettra were ill-prepared for the jungles they encountered south of the Mo-orassim. They perished to disease, hunger and thirst, and what the natural world did not kill, the expert armies of Karkuth did.

Mon Kettra was defeated and fled north to nurse its wounds, thoughts of expansion halted. It fortified the city of Hammon and its environs against this new southern foe, and strengthened links between its existing cities, from Poyakwan in the north all the way to the lake-city of Sandoon in the south, creating a trade-route that has cut a line through the vegetation of the land and is still used to this day.

Encouraged by its defeat of the northern invaders, Karkuth began expanding, crossing the Cauat badlands east, encroaching on mining territories of Motanta. The two peoples clashed around the badlands, beginning a hostile period that lasted almost 90-years to 50 RM, after which Motanta would diminish east as Karkuth expanded, absorbing its cities. This time of wane lasted until 52 RM, when its last remaining city, Pasabay, was subjugated by Karkuth, which had grown to rival Mon Kettra in size.

During this time of war Karkuth colonised the nearby island of Irkalla, and sent great armoured merchant caravans east, hoping to find land to colonise or well-established natives with which to trade. The merchants found the latter in the kingdom of Arretoy, which had already come to dominate the south-eastern-most tip of Llachatul. Contact was made with Arretoy in 59 RM and merchant houses were set-up there, establishing a stable trade network reaching west across land and sea to Karkuth. The two became close allies, and by c. 110 RM they were being referred to as the twin kingdoms, and their royal families marry into each other

Karkuth had grown into a confident kingdom by this time under the leadership of a line of aggressive kings, and its armies pushed ever outwards. Clashes with Mon Kettra, whose dominion was on the wane, became more common, until 184 RM, when war broke out. Over the course of two decades Karkuth swept north, taking cities as it went, until it besieged the once-great city of Mon Kettra itself in 202 RM. For over a year Karkuthi armies attacked its walls, finally felling them in the last days of the Autumn of 203 RM, scant days before the armies were to abandon the siege for winter. The city was razed, the soil around it salted so that it could not be resettled, and it was allowed to crumble as a reminder to the foes of Karkuth.

In 232 RM the high prince of Karkuth and crown princess of Arretoy married after decades of both kingdoms’ royalties marrying into each other, cementing the alliance. Once the high-prince was made king he formally joined the kingdoms of Karkuth and Arretoy into one, taking the name of his homeland, becoming King Karkuth I. Many within Arretoy did not like the choice of name, and already the seeds of dissent were sown.

King Karkuth’s rule was one of stabilisation. The economy of both regions were strengthened and trade increased. The position of Karkuth at the far south east of Llachatul made it perfect as a middle-man for western and eastern trade, and the city of Haoh Sayon would go on to become one of the most important trade cities in Elyden, trading goods from Llachatul and Sammaea in the west, with Meniscea in the east. Its harbours were a marvel to behold and by c. 430 RM it had become home to more than 1-million bodies.

Karkuth had his detractors and his descendants would bring about harsh laws to deal with dissenters. The link between the two royal families was made law and the claim of the Karkuthi royal family to Arretoy became ironclad in 447 RM, when the king declared it divine will that he and his sons should rule over Arretoy as Karkuth.

Later that year dissent in the city of Shashakar escalated with the death of three members of the Karkuthi royal family that set the kingdom into a civil war that lasted until 453 RM, with over two thirds of Arretoyan territories secession from the kingdom of Karkuth, taking back its former name of Arretoy, which had not been used in over 200-years. The Karkuthi royal family did not recognise the action and sent its armies to win back its ‘lost’ territories.

What was expected to be a short, brutal conflict to excise the stubborn secessionists from power became a war of attrition that devastated both regions and dragged on for decades. The city of Haoh Sayon, wealthy and powerful from trade, seceeded itself in 473 RM, becoming an influential city-state that managed to remain largely unaffected by the war

In 542 RM Karkuth admitted defeat and made official the independence of Arretoy.

Karkuth did not recover from the war, and let its territories slip away as it consolidated its central-most cities, in what is now the centre of extant Cuth. Settlers from Meniscea landed in the E-most of its territories between 490 - 580 RM, bringing with them Firmamental knowledge and by c. 600 RM the region had become known as Iacio and it too seceeded from Karkuth

Its northern territories were abandoned and for centuries remained a lawless region where anarchy prevailed and entrepreneuring people struggled to make a living. Large fortified farmsteads dominated what had once been Mon Kettra, and, without centralised leadership, they were forced into protecting themselves against thieves and bandits. The region came to be known as Kettarang and its people became renowned for their tenacity and skill in defending their home-land.

To the south, Karkuth had stabilised. It had lost its eastern-most provinces of Surta in c. 595 RM and instead consolidated its central territories, which extended from the southernmost tip of the Hamminghen peninsula north to the Mo-orassim mountains, and west to the Balimann coast. With the major city of Haoh Sayon no longer under its control Karkuth lost its major trade link with the outside world and established a new port in the city of Hammon, which began trading with Venthir and other places, rebuilding the region’s economy.

Though their coastal cities had always been the targets of Suori chorsairs, a new law granting free charters to privateers in the name of Queen Hetepheres in 636 RM saw Kettarang suffer new attacks from Venthiri privateers become always targerse people of Kettarang became targets of Venthiri privateers in the following decades.

This sped up the formation of a coalition amongst the Kettarangi people, which helped protect its lands against bandirty and pirate raids. Coastal fortresses were built and shipyards constructed where fast ships could be rapidly commissioned. These ships patrolled the coast of Kettarang, guarding coastal settlements from attack, which in turn helped the coalition grow into a republic by 732 RM.

By 1000 RM the reefs in the lagoons of Braggay began to bleach, and within a few hundred years the lagoons themselves had dwindled in size, cutting off hundreds of settlements and dozens of cities from the sea, ending a way of life that had existed for millennia. People abandoned their old landlocked settlements and settled new coastal regions, but the loss of the lagoons had also taken the fish, leaving the region’s waters with only a fraction of the bounty they once held.

The death of the Braggay lagoons left one of the most productive regions of Karkuth devastated. By around 1240 RM a great dry salty basin, some 10,000 square-miles, had appeared where the lagoons once were. The salt made the land sterile, and winds blowing from the east spread dust and salt across the rest of Karkuth, negatively impacting the jungles there.

By 1326 RM Kettarang had brought many outlying city-states together under its banner by the champion Yandar Dashe, who in 1333 RM founded a new city atop the ruins of Mon Kettra, naming it Am Onkret.

Kettarang and Karkuth developed a healthy relationship, with trade a constant across their borders. Their navies worked together in patrolling their respective coasts from enemy vessels and together the two - Republic and Kingdom - thrived, re-initiating trade with the east.

Despite the dominance of the Korachani empire over the Inner Sea, its influence was not as widely-felt this far east. Its dependency Venthir was the face of the empire to nations this far east, and its ruler, the sphinx Queen Hetepheres, better-known as the Strangler, was the Tyrant that parents told children would come for them if they were naughty. Her paranoias and prejudices against technology kept her busy persecuting her own people, but privateers continued to harass the waters east of Venthir, including Kettarang and Karkuth, though with their united navy and coastal defences they were of little effect.

Trade with the west increased in this time and trade houses were established along the east coast of Llachatul. Both nations continued to thrive.

It was in 2123 RM that Karkuthi explorers discovered the overgrown caves of Tillayan. A monolithic antechamber greeted the first explorers, who would go on to spend over a century cataloguing its various chambers and tunnels. No sign of prior mortal habitation was found in the cave-system - save the deepest chamber, which was uncovered in 2236 RM. A simple cave with a stone hewn altar on which was placed a desiccated hand, ancient beyond reckoning. The hand was taken back to Karkuth and examined by shapers and historians over the course of many years. In 2252 RM a name was divined: Nergaal.

The shaper who orchestrated the choir responsible for divining the name of the hand was plagued by visions and vivid dreams for fourteen days, at the end of which a single word was whispered to him, as though by the hand itself: Erkala.

The shaper, Keng Walin,  came to worship the hand as a deity, and soon gathered a following of others who shared his beliefs. He designed a temple with the sole purpose of housing the hand and had it constructed in the valley where the Cuthadduan Mtns. and the Mo-orassim meet. Named Erkala, after his vision, he became the leader of a new church that revered the hand as the relic of an ancient god who whispered to him in his sleep.

The church grew rapidly as word spread across Karkuth, and a settlement appeared around the temple of Erkala, taking on its name. Keng was elevated to a prophet of the church despite his wishes and as the settlement of Erkala grew into a town, others claimed to have visions and troubled dreams. The sun became a common symbol of these dreams, appearing as either black, bringing death; or white, binging life. This became a common motif of the growing church of Nergaal, as it became known.

Though the people of Karkuth did not know it at the time, the hand was indeed the preserved hand of the Demiurge Nergaal.

Within two decades of the revelation of the name Nergaal, Erkala had grown into a city of over 20,000 bodies, and continued to grow. People left other long-established cities from around Karkuth to live close to their new leader and god.

Keng was made ruler of the city of Erkala, but he elected regents to rule in his place. Palaces were built in his name, but he lived in a small room beside the temple. He was showered with riches, which he donated to the needy.

He found his sleep plagued by fever-dreams - plague, death, ripe crops swaying in the wind. And above it all the sun, its light giving life and taking it away. The whispers of the hand grew until after seven days without sleep he knew what he had to do.

In 2274 RM he killed himself in full view of a thousand faithful, driving a blade into his chest, whispering the name Nergaal. He became a martyr and saint overnight, and was buried beneath the altar. The king marked the day as one of mourning to be observed every year.

Keng’s death only served to stir the people of Karkuth into a religious fervour. People killed themselves in the name of Nergaal as groups gathered outside temples flagellating themselves. It was enough to bring the kingdom to a standstill.

Martial law was declared to ensure people continued to work. There were riots in the major cities of Karkuth as soldiers struggled to maintain control.

And then, weeks after his interment, Keng emerged from his sarcophagus, skin blackened and hardened where the blade had entered his body. Silent, made his way through the gathered crowd into his old room, which was still empty.

Word spread rapidly across Karkuth - the martyred saint and founder of their church was returned from the dead. Chaos erupted in the capital as people stormed the ruling palace calling out for the royal family to step down to allow Keng to take over leadership of the nation. Dozens were killed in the palace as the riots were quelled, but the damage was caused and the seeds of dissent were sown.

Keng remained silent throughout the riots and his closest acolytes guarded his home from royal loyalists who were attempting to kill him.

The followers of Keng were eventually successful, gaining entry into the palace once more in 2275 RM, killing the royal family as they cowered. The palace was burnt down and those still loyal to the royal family were executed before Keng’s followers marched to Erkala to prostrate before their new emperor.

Keng emerged from his home under duress and agreed to meet with those who had orchestrated the assassination of the royal family and asked them if they truly believed he was the prophet of Nergaal they would do as he say. He told them to kill each other and they did so.

When Keng emerged from his home he was alone. He spoke to his acolytes for the first time since his rebirth and told them “Karkuth is no more. Today we build Cuth, and at its centre will be this church dedicated to my father, Nergaal”.

The city of Karkuth was abandoned and Erkala became capital to what became known as the Dominion of Cuth. An order of black-robed knights was founded to police the region, keeping travellers safe, but also spying on would-be dissenters. They would become known as the Knights of Keng. The laws of church and state became indistinguishable from one another, as the two merged, and Keng, while regarded as religious and state ruler, appointed proxies to rule on his behalf. Since his rebirth he’d grown more distant, less talkative, and many claimed (without concrete proof) that he had been reborn as an otherworlder, explaining the changes (physical and in character). Keng would never disclose what happened and would move from his simple home to a glass reliquary behind the altar where he had killed himself, where people could venerate him. Starting in c. 2400 RM he began practicing asceticism and began meditating, never drinking or sleeping. This started a movement where many of his faithful would follow his example, dying while meditating. Those who did so were effectively mummified alive, becoming saints of Nergaal.

A new language was devised by the acolytes of Keng, reserved for religious rituals, but it took over, spreading to common day parlance, replacing the Karakauthi tongue, which remained in use for trade purposes with its neighbours.

Relations with those neighbours suffered and Kettarang, which by c. 2651 would be known as Kerem, grew distant from Cuth, citing its strange religious rituals and the totalitarian knights that had emerged in Cuth since the church took over as the reasons. The people of Cuth would become ever more insular following this time, looking ever-deeper into their religion, seemingly forsaking the mortal realm, devoting themselves fully to the worship of Nergaal.

The church of Nergaal was, to all intents and purposes, a sun cult dressed in elaborate ritual. In its most simple form it worshipped Nergaal (the sun), in two forms - the Giving Sun, which nourished plants and provided warmth and life; and the Taking Sun, which brought droughts, and plague and disease. Out  of respect to the power of the sun people changed their habits, sleeping during the day and performing most tasks during dusk and dawn. The temples of Nergaal likewise dug deep into the earth, constructing large subterranean chambers where the mummified remains of dead ascetics were honoured and the Sun revered at safe distance.

In 2701 RM two mysterious figures -  a man and woman - appeared in the city of Am Onkret in  Kerem, petitioning an audience with the ruling council. They claimed to be descended from an ancient line of rulers, whose empire was known as Acacinnath. Few knew of the Acacinnathi empire, which had collapsed in the Fourth Age, well over 3,000-years past. They demanded to be returned to power over their ancestral lands.

The council laughed at the request and ordered them executed, but the siblings made a display of their supranatural powers, silencing the council. They left, performing miracles across Kerem, gaining a large following. Within 2-years they had grown powerful and had the ear of most council members who in 2703 RM elected the pair as leader,above the council. The siblings were married, and distrusting council members were imprisoned.

They reopened the cinnabar mines and shared the dust with their most loyal followers.the mines were heavily guarded against theft and due to the importance of the dust, only direct members of the dynastic family were allowed to run them. Anyone caught stealing dust was punished harshly, with stigma of the crime being something no family wanted. The dynasty became famous for the marriage of siblings, which continues to this day, and dynasty members are known for their russet-skin, and elongated facial features, which are commonly attributed to their inbreeding and consumption of the cinnabar dust.

In Cuth, Keng would eventually stop displaying signs of consciousness, and in 3171 RM he was declared dead by his acolytes, ascended to stand beside Nergaal as a god.

The knights of Keng placed themself in control of the kingdom in his place, ignoring the regency that had been instated by Keng himself. The knights and the ruling regency clashed, bringing war to Erkala.

The knights lost and their ranks were whittled down by the regent and his armies, who fortified the capital and quelled any further dissent. The regent declared himself chosen by Keng to rule his mortal dominions and named himself emperor, with his family ruling Cuth to this day.

Keng was elevated to the status of God in 3173 RM, bringing a schism to the Church of Nergaal between those who continued worshipping Nergaal as the deity and Keng as his prophet; and those who saw Keng as the true deity, and Nergaal as simply the catalyst that allowed Keng to ascend to godhood. A time of religious turmoil followed this and for close to a century, the empire of Cuth was gripped by savage religious partisanism that lasted until 3259 RM, with the signing of the conclave of Erkala, where the religion was divided into two sects - the Cult of Nergaal, and the adherents of Keng - different facets of the same religion. To this day, there exists a degree of enmity between members of the two sects, which still vie for spiritual control of the nation.

Today Cuth is an oddity; a nation in the modern world, embracing the spread of technology and industrialisation, in a culture that clings to ancient religions and worshipping practices. Its people are insular, obsessed with their religion, and of fanatical beliefs.