Atlas Elyden #47 - the Soleyn Territories and the Thaumaturgy of Suor

Here's the latest map on the Atlas Elyden, the Soleyn Territories and the Thaumaturgy of Suor.

This map includes a new design for the Nullambit line, replacing the thicker line from older maps with a simple dashed line. I think it makes more sense this way as the older version implies that the Nullambit line itself represented something Physical, which is not the case.  Let me know what you think :)

You can find an updated key to the map here.

This is the low-res version available to everyone.  Become a Patron at the Acolyte tier for access to my back catalogue of High-res, PSD and textless maps.

This is available to use as per the CC licence on the image itself

You'll note that there is no PDF for Encyclopaedia entries as the Encyclopaedia Elyden is now available to all patrons to view - the post is stickied on my Patreon, and patrons at any tier (even as little as $1 month) have access to it. The PDF is a living document and will be updated monthly as I add content to it. You can find it here.

_______________________________________________________________________

SUOR:

Nation in the north-east of Sammaea, north of the Roiling Sea, east of the Soleyn Territories and west of Naareth. A tropical nation that was founded in 3496 RM in the wake of over a century of Korachani attentions in the form of the genocidal Egret Crusades that left the region depopulated and without a unified government.

Farther back, Korachan had once tried to colonise Suor. This was between c. 700 - 740 RM, over a century after the regions’ discovery by the explorer Navah Berden in 598 RM. He sojourned there for 7-years before continuing his exploration of Elyden, but changed the culture of Suor in his short stay there. He brought various imperial customs to the region, including a reverence towards crossroads, which continues to this day in the elite bassoran guards that can be found across the nation. Foremost amongst these imperial customs was the church of the Undying Machine, which quickly spread in the area, supplanting the ancient elemental beliefs of the locals - a remnant of the ancient Aberan empire that once occupied the region in the Fourth Age.

The Suori Church of the Machine developed independently of the true imperial church, and by the time of the Korachani colonisation attempts, it had become a different entity entirely, with Berden canonised as a saint and prophet of the church. Idols dedicated to him were worshipped around the nation but the style was so different to Imperial statues that the colonisers were none the wiser. By the time they discovered this, their presence in Suor was on the wane. They left behind a handful of ailing settlements and descendants that to this day carry echoes of Korachan in their blood.

By c. 2500 RM, Suor was trading with Saragos and other regions in the region of the Roiling Sea. Its sailors became adept at crossing its dangerous waters and became famed for their navigational skills, which are prized across the Inner Sea and beyond. Indeed, for much of its history the people of the Inner Sea mistakenly believed that Suor was a nation of pirates and chorsairs, so much so that its common name in the Korachani empire is the Pirate Coast. This could not be farther from the truth - its sailors have for centuries been opposing the predations of sea raiders.

By the time the first Egret crusades arrived in Suor in c. 3300 RM, memory of the Korachani migrations there over 2 millennia past had long been forgotten. The crusades reached Suor and its neighbours via two routes - overland from the N - W and by Sea from the E. The Soleyn Territories bore the brunt of the overland crusades, but Suor became subjected to near-constant naval bombardments and coastal raids between 3350 - 3480 RM. The crusades waned after this time, though Suor was left devastated, its population reduced to a fraction of its previous numbers. Those who remained alive had moved inland, leaving its territories to the W and E, as well as much of its coast, empty. Its borders reduced, its districts in anarchy, the crusades left little in the form of  a unified government overseeing the region.

The ensuing decades were characterised by various opposing groups, all vying for power. The otherworlder Arharnazha I emerged from this period in 3496 RM with a dedicated following and a brood of 1st and 2nd generation halfblood offspring, from which the extant ruling caste of the Theocracy is descended. The Theocracy is recognised as an authoritarianism by outside nations, and its power is concentrated in a few large coastal cities - Kiash (the capital), Seber Pan, and Besh (once coastal, though now 20-miles from the coast, along the river Lotan) - where the majority of the nations' population is located. Smaller rural settlements exist outside of the main influence of the otherworlder’s regime, though they are never truly free of the Thaumaturgy’s reach.

Suori settlements are traditionally built on hilltops, which are entirely covered in stone buildings, many of which have glass skylights or verdigris-encrusted copper domes. Each settlement has at its heart a large church dedicated to the Suori Church of the Machine. These hilltop settlements have in their bowels stark catacombs, where the dead are buried.

The people of Suor are expert glassmakers and ironworkers and their large greenhouses and conservatories are famed throughout Sammaea, most famed of which is the conservatory-city of Kapurra, which grows tropical plants that would otherwise not survive in this climate. Vitiligo is quite common in Suor, and often manifests in unneering symmetry, often covering as much as 80% of a body. It it thought that as many as 2 in 7 people in Suor have vitiligo of some form, and it has no bearing on their position or role in society.

The current ruler of Suor is a 5th generation halfblood calling himself Arharnazha VI. He is young, only 16 years old in 4007 RM, and has a reputation for pettiness. He surrounds himself with 4 creant bodyguards, whose origins are unknown. His rule over the Theocracy is harsh and unpredictable.