Knights of Comona

The Knights of Comona (Wotsek: Ren Chevaliuren dai Hyr Comona) are a community in Caerus that has been integrated into Bardonia. Originally an independent nation, then a protectorate of Bardonia, the Knights are a loose order that started in the Rathnir continent of Vastallos and remained together on the new world of Abexilas to share a common land. Its population has wavered over the years, but it remains strong and has recovered from many blows.
==History==
===Origins===
The Knight order dates back to Rathnir and was based on the island of Ggantija, situated south of Vastallos in the Sea of Slaves. The island changed hands many times. It was invaded by various surrounding nations, including Kush, and Carvay, which had an impact on both the culture of the island as well as the language spoken there.
===Part of Carvay===
During the last years of Rathnir, the island of Ggantija was starting to be built up with large walls ordered to be built by the leader, Qwinz. Recruits were brought in from around Carvay, drawing attention to this developing part of the nation.
As the War of the Comet came to a close and the world froze over, the knights banded together and managed to draw in Carvay refugees, hoping to continue the work started in Rathnir and to remain strong and united. Unfortunately, the remnants of Carvay broke into many groups that went their separate ways in Abexilas and many prominent members never seemed to make it out of Rathnir.
===On Abexilas===
Shortly after the start of the colonisation of Abexilas, an independent nation for the Knights was founded by Qwinz. Initially, the knights gathered in the small settlement of Comona, a word which means "hearth" in Wotsek, chosen both for the need for warmth in the frozen taiga of their new island home as well as a symbol, as the word is also a synonym for "home", and the ideology of the knights striving to be protectors of the peace and of the home of the commonfolk was beginning to take shape.
Shortly after the founding of Comona at the centre of the island, it was discovered that another group of colonists had settled on the southern coast. Small border disputes followed shortly and the new nation of Terra proceeded to build a second settlement on the northern coast of the island. Tensions rose in the first half decade of the Voyager's Era, and to secure some territory the knights built a settlement on the peninsula across the sound that separated them from the continent. As the new territory was being surveyed, discussions with inhabitants from other settlements on the continents started to heat up, and the combination of these events pushed the knights to strengthen their ties with Bardonia. If from the start of the nation the alliance with Bardonia was planned, initially the plan was to benefit from their influence while providing border defence and materials. The rising tensions and the powerful backers of the nation of Terra cause some worry among the knights as they were not equipped to fight at the time.
As time went on, however, no war was declared and by Year 7 VE, the surrounding settlements seemed to slowly be deserted, however it wasn't until around 14 VE that the knights were finally able to reclaim the whole island. The settlement on the peninsula was more complicated, as it also was also lost around 5 VE, and a new effort to settle it was made by the second in command, Kita ab Katerina. A new settlement, called Lethlourion for its gentle slopes, was founded around 7 VE, and the dense forest that was present there was cut down to make room for some buildings. Within a couple years, a non-denominational church and a house for the mayor had been built. Most inhabitants already owning a house in Comona, further construction has been slow.
As the years went by, the population of the knights saw a slow decline, as eventually it was decided, when the nation's coffres ran low, to fully integrate into Bardonia. As of 39 VE, the Knights of Comona officially became a province of Bardonia. Knights have since join the Bardonian ranks in wars with allies and helped in the construction of Sancta. If activity was slow for several years, the land continues to evolve and the Hearthfire Brewery was established in Comona in 51 VE.
==Wotsek Language==
The language has many influences, reflecting the complex history of the early history of the Knights. If it can be considered a dialect of the broader Volsi language family, some influences that were found in the Volsi spoken in Carvay are not as strong in Wotsek. Strong substrates or superstrata can also be assumed from the many lexical and grammatical differences with Volsi.
The language is known as Wotsek in the Traveller's Tongue on account that it has long been considered a dialect of Volsi, which originally was called Wotsek in Wotsek, while what we now know as Wotsek was Ggantijan Volsi (Djensiater Wotsek). But the word was then reborrowed in Wotsek, from Volsi, to become Wuxe. Now Wuxe only means the Volsi language, while and the "Ggantijan Volsi" fell out of favour. For some time, two terms co-existed to designate Wotsek, one using the the old term for Volsi (Wotsek), which had come to only signify Wotsek (as opposed to Wuxe for Volsi) and another word using a shortened form of "Ggantijan", which is Djensiiek (with the word ending specifically for language names). Generally, Djensiiek was the one that remained in Wotsek, while the common name in the Traveller's Tongue was simply Wotsek.
Spelling of the language, for the most part, is straightforward. More unexpected spellings include: <x> for /ɕ/ and <tx> for / t͡ɕ/, <dq> for d͡ʑ, as well as <ch> for /x/.
An example of a text translated into Wotsek is the Makerist Creed:Io huso en unio thomoi Hyr Douniur, poi dounov tœd retzen
Ste en hyr thomiesam dai Gǫf, estoi Vi ienum bendithiekus
Poi estoi deskekus odh hyr Kozamun Spaiar iia esoplor leus en noi steroi pelon dai skutoiun
En hyr ienum dai tœd Ev obiet bodats starekus ap delyniuren dai Emœn ste prus hyr trian dqien Ev estoi agodekus iia eseplor leus enuvu
Ev estoi ieskekus, odǫdama do hyr naiepxilor Kozamun Spaiar
Io huso en hyr thodwarusam dai Hyr Douniur, thodwar gwahan ste porie agwaithen en unie
Io huso en unie vere ste naiebyn craithun Gǫfuso Tholmo ste delariu œdqi didokhes
Ste io rosumu hus trœi Bedith io emi madhekus dai tœd cinteres pszevnas ste trosethen ste epuso enuvu pod Hyr Douniur.
==Notable Knights of Comona==
*Qwinz the Knight of Loneliness, Djensiater politician
*Kita ab Katerina, Djensiater builder