Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)

[Tychris1]

Region for review

Retret Ringan (Region 19)

Spoiler: Geography

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Far beyond the desolate plains, crumbling ruin mountains, and dangerous wastes of Binar Fajar lays a relative utopia by Kucen standards. The water is calm, the land is soft and rolling, and the sea is a reliable mistress. The fish growing in Retret Ringan are colorful vibrant and pliable to a stern hand. Life is simple in the valleys, trenches, and sea caves that make up the vast majority of homesteads within the region. Instead of artificial constructs the denizens therein rely on making use of existing landscapes to support their architectural needs. Harvest fields stretching as wide as the eye can see, save for the blight of warcraft that has now formed a set of "teeth" on the region pointed outwardly towards the Maw. Ruts and small trenches have been carved through the land from the unwilling masses dragged to the battle lines in years past to feed the Lighthouse war effort.

Spoiler: People

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Lamplighter Kucen

In storied myth lives the ancient Lamplighter. The shining warrior wielding a magic blade forged from the melted lamps of his whole clan, combining their light into a singular purpose. He had won a hundred battles and cleaved a thousand foes in search of his Goddesses enlightenment. At the end of his long campaign he took his sword and buried it in the sand, bending the material into a plowshare, and resigned his life to the simple agrarian lifestyle. The veracity of such a story is hotly debated amongst Kucen scholars, some attributing this warrior's existence to various Kosong who were noted Warlords or Cult Leaders, and none fully agreeing on the matter. Regardless the mythical folk hero legend persisted amongst the people, many of whom followed in a similar step to the fabled Lamplighter, and were the dissatisfied soldiers, hangers-on, or worst of all survivors of the constant War surrounding Binar Fajar. At the height of Binar Fajar's opulence, this land was little more than an oversized plantation for the cruel and exorbitant Mistresses who ruled the Aurora Dawn and so few of them paid heed to its existence when they fled back to Indah's Rise for a more sightly and fitting station to rule over. Some however saw the opportunity to escape the dangers of courtly life and took the chance, though deprived of the copious Siren Extract in their home and the disgruntled veteran population lead to a quick subdual of any hegemonic statecraft.

Many of the Kucen in the region light Lamps outside of their home to celebrate the ancient warrior they consider the "Founder" of their home and when the Lighthouse came to they did so again in defense. The Kosong reavers were repelled at first, the Vessel at their host gutted and turned into a Lamp of celebration, and then came the reinforcements. Legions of glowing warriors blotting out the light above buried the Lamplighter resistance the year after, farms were sacked, the people subjugated, and now fully assimilated into the Lighthouse's voracious beast. Now Lamplighter serves as a form of "Elite Soldier" terminology amongst the forces of the Lighthouse, who treat the region as an expensive training ground and resort.

Spoiler: Resource

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Coralberries

The Coral in the region is unique in producing a special abundant berry that is sweet to taste and makes for a delicious wine. It requires long years of careful cultivation to make the sweetest berries, which only grow in the darkest and deepest places in the land. Now it is mostly used for warpaint and the occasional shamanic potion to send a warrior into a fevered state.

Resource Requirement: Precious Minerals

Though they are long separated many of the ancestors of the Lighthouse were the founders of Retret Ringan and their obsessive nature over shiny baubles and sources of light therein persists. Nowadays it only appears as an obsession with shiny precious minerals, rocks that also double as the necessary materials to harvest coralberries with, and in more recent history to bend plowshares into swords and set the tempo of the Lighthouse Imperial March.

Spoiler: Faith

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Cult of the Lamplighter:

All throughout Retret Ringan persists the Cult of the Lamplighter, broken down into 3 sects that while generally agreeing on the storied myth of the Lamplighter harshly disagree on the focus and the continuation of the fable therein. Some worship the Lamplighter as a Fertility Symbol, seeing his historic move of "planting" his sword and sowing the seed of their people in this land. Others view him as a Deathly Figure, a Reaper of the past who eventually was Reaped himself, and now ushers on those souls too weary to persist in an uncaring world. Lastly and perhaps most audaciously (and in some eyes recently proved correct) there lives the Resurrectionists who believe that in their time of greatest need the Lamplighter would be reborn and return their people to their Warrior's Oath. None of these cults embrace the Radiance of the Reef as the true Will of the Seas and prove a constant disappointment and irritant for the Vessel and his host of Thugs.