Kingdom of Atheria

The **Kingdom of Atheria** was a kingdom that established in the North, and one of the Six Kingdoms of humanity west of the Eastern Mountains. A powerful and wealthy nation, based on war and trade, the nation has a long history of alliance with the City of Elv'elda. Its ruling family is the Elvenfriend family.

## History

It is unknown when humanity first came to the North but it is supposed to have been very early in their history, and they may have originated there. It is known that early humans established first states there and had cultural domination over the great plains and steppes of the north.

In 2453BF, the Human Empire was established, conquering a vast region over all of the modern Six Kingdoms. The North was at the time split into ten tribes, united as a confederation, that came to be conquered as Mannus had federated his homeland and was now expanding his lands. According to legend, one of Mannus' children married into the confederation's chieftain at the time as part of a matrimonial assimilation. Marches were established as the region was close to Eldar lands, forming the core defense of the Wall Marche. It seems that the region had been ruled by locals, instead of by a prince of the Empire. Seemingly, a descendant of the last chieftain of the confederation ruled the region as a hereditary governor.

As the Human Empire collapsed after the disastrous First Divine War, the North was back at its tribal governments, fighting against each other and against the surroundings. Eventually, the Elf slaves ran away from the Eldar Empire, and came near Agenarich I, a chief that had conquered one of the two capital cities of the empire. Even though he had conquered it, he gladly gave it to Elves, prompting them to thank the chief for his kindness. Thus, he began trading with the soon to be wealthy elves, who kept gratitude towards them, and eventually, all the lands and tribes were united by Chrocus I. Atheria was unified, with the City of Elv'elda as a strong ally. Breis was then chosen as a capital city, due to its links with Agenarich's birth tribe. Due to that, Atheria held a strong hatred towards the Eldar Empire and towards the Mytherid Empire as well, by power of alliances.

Kings of Atheria remained very anti-slavery, his Empire quickly became a powerful empire, with wealth coming from trade but disliked for its zeal in defending freedom. It also grew to be very focused on millitary, although less than the Mytherid Empire.

Atheria suffered much from the Flood, losing most of its coastal lands, and its whole northern coast. However, it survived, notably due to its ties with Elves. Currently, the Emperor is Agenarich II Elvenfriend, known as "the Smiling Axe", for his skills with weapons and habit to smile wildly when fighting.

## Government and Politics

### Power Structure

The Atherian Kingdom's government is ruled by a single absolute monarch who held most of the power within the government. Below the monarch are the advisors, tasked to advise the monarch in many subjects, although they have no power. It is however important to note that these advisors were selected based on merit.

Below the advisors are the dukes, powerful lords who managed the militaries and economies of their individual province. These are elected among the chieftains of each province. These chieftains were charged with ruling a town of each provinces in the duke's stead, with them being elected by the inhabitants of each town.

Each position within the government, safe for the Emperor, is a governor whose titles would be then put into an elective succession. Early on, women were allowed to be a part of government affairs and they now are able to be in positions of power as high as the office of advisor. Over time, the Atherian Dynasty started to develop from a fully agnatic succession line to a agnato-cognatic one, accepting daughters as heirs if male heirs were not able to rule. The succession depends on age. However, unlike Vecresia, a female heir is at the very bottom of inheritance and even a cousin could inherit over a daughter.

### Military

Atherian military was a very strong one, and the Kingdom of Atheria had only Mytheryne as its superior millitary. As such, similar to how Mytheryne acted, the commanders and generals were chosen based on skills. Their military commanders were charismatic and allowed even small fractions of the army to remain resilient and brave. Unlike many other kingdoms, there were no slaves in Atheria, and the soldiers were willing to fight, which meant that the Atherian Armies aren't big but are loyal and skilled. Standard Atherian footsoldiers were taught to typically wield morgenstern in combat. The most commonly used material for weapons was steel.

Trained in weaponry and magic, the army is mostly used for self defense, as the Atherian Kingdom has bad relationships with its neighbours, due to its anti-slavery ideas, and only one real ally in the city of Elv'elda. It is prepared for any attack, and the Wall March is famous for having been defended by many heroes. Many soldiers are Half-Eldars, notably among the sorcerers, due to common goals for Elv'elda.

### Economy

After its formation, the Atherian Kingdom adopts a feudal system, with peasants of a duke's territory required to farm the fields for the nation's agriculture. In exchange, the peasants can keep a portion of what they farmed, and the dukes and chieftains were tasked to make law and justice prevail. Among its primary crops were the Mannus Hearts, although Golden Apples were common too. Atherian Grapes are also used for winemaking.

Coinciding with its agricultural aspects, the kingdom's economy is very open to trade, notably with their longest allies, the City of Elv'elda. It also allows merchants to settle and run businesses within its borders. The Kingdom's economy is also helped by a monthly help from Elv'elda . Currency in the Atherian Kingdom is called Agen, and is divided in silver Agen and steel Agen. A silver Agen is equivalent to sixty steel Agen.

## Society and Culture

The people of Atheria are a proud and independent people, fiercely anti-slavery. Atherians had a very good view of Elves that they consider as siblings, and considered the other Eldars as bad people, notably the Imperial Eldars.

As part of their culture, Atherians typically did not adopt a unique surname to coincide with their first name, using nicknames such as "the elder" if there are more than one person with said first name. Noble families had surnames.

Atheria recognises the Church of Aym as the official religion of its lands, although this is not often treated seriously, since Atherians are known not to be very devout and zealous about religion, particularly disliking the slavery justification. However, the Archon of Atheria does exist and has powers, being often an advisor to Atherian Kings.

Due to common contact with Elves, some Atherians are at least knowledgeable in Eldarin and Common. Many nobles are educated in both and only a few Kings of Atheria did not talk Eldarin fluently.

## Geography and Climate

The Atherian Kingdom is a country, in the North, located directly west to the Eldar Empire, east to the City of Elv'elda and the Kingdom of Dreolia, and north of the Demiurgate of Aymia. The northern coast was mostly steppic in nature. Asides from that, the lands were fields, although cold ones, with some forests among the fields.

## Trivia

* The Kingdom of Atheria is loosely inspired by the Alemanic Confederation, and very loosely by the Holy Roman Empire. Other inspirations include Elphegort, from Evillious Chronicles and the various nations around modern Germany through history.