Stella

### CULTURE

Many countries in Earth Land often wondered about the rolling hills of Stella. Protected by strange runes, few could get in without permission in the dead of the night. The people were fiercely protective of their secrets, but openly shared their worshiping with the world.

There were Nine Major Temples within the country. In the middle, where the capitol was, the temples of The Sky to Mehturt, Ra and Set, to the south, where the border met the water and Bosco, the Temples of Judgement to Anubis, Ma’at - the goddess, not her celestial spirit 'brothers' that bore her name - and Bast, the north held the temples of Wisdom to Osiris, Horus and Thoth. There were other gods that were worshiped and they all had temples, but the nine were the cornerstones of Stella. There were temples to all the gods all around the grassy hilled country that had mines where Stellarium and Celestium was harvested, as well as Opal Lacrama, three of the most expensive things to be bought out of the country. There were goods, of course: candles, candies and food, but while hard to get out, much, much less expensive than the crystalized exports.

Three Families worked to keep the Country Moving. The Xings, an ancient Celestial Magic Inclined family that had come before Acnologia had razed part of the continent centuries ago, The Hitose Family, whose ranks were filled with Seith and ran the Sanctuary, a place of learning...about oneself and ones magic that could break the will of the student, and the Shen Family, supposedly part of the founding people of Stella, earth mages that ran the mines and watched the borders with their magics. Within each large family, there were many smaller lines, each having their own duties to the country. This system kept the country strong and proud for centuries.

The Xing and their Celestial Magic inclination brought about those with great insight, hearing the stars without looking at Charts, purportedly the gods of the Sky spoke to them. One of their branches were in the south, the first time the magic manifested, ten keys had been found, two mages, a twin brother and sister, had been taken over by magic and the Hall had come forward. They were the first Key to the Hall and their hair had gone silver when the magic had run its course, burned into their genetics to show ‘what’ they belonged to. Their grandchild had been able to hold the hall open on her own, but her death had scattered the thoughts as her children while being bound to the keys, did not have the power to open more than three each, the strain on their magic casting them into a darkness that even the Seith Family that stayed close couldn't bring them back from.

There were plentiful Cities and villages within the country, each made of moonstone and granite as their base material. They were beautiful cities, with richly woven fabrics that one could often, in the mid afternoon, see young women working on and embroidering. They were a calm, quiet and refined people on the whole, who valued family, it seemed, almost as much as the Gods and Their Words. Meals, for those outsiders that got to see them, were entire village affairs, where people would mill around, exchanging dishes that they’d brought, or the women working over large pots of stews and other dishes.

Very few Cities and Villages were called by name, simply because they were located around temples. It was easier to justify which temple one would go to in order to find the right village. One of the few Cities that was always called by name was Daevale. It was situated where Bosco, Stella and Iceberg all met, strange, glowing runes on the ground that denoted country boundaries. It was sprawling, with enchantments to keep too much of the Iceberg Chill out of the air, too much mountain chill from Bosco and pollen and the like from the Rolling Hills of Stella. This City was a melting Pot of the three cultures, where Priests of All three nations would come together, talk calmly, compare, but there was no reason for them to actually argue, they saw how their gods were the same and thus...there was no reason for a war.

This was where exotic things came from, where they were created first. From the fragrant candles and candies that were often exported, to the more rare pastry items to get across borders.