Avathís

Status: Active

Population: 2 million (1,500 in Miralta)

Values: Self-direction, Tradition, Tradition

Excels at or Interested in: Sailing, Trading, Religion

Bad at or Disinterested in: Exploring, Arcana, Strategy

Known Political Factions: ~~Aboleth Cult~~~~,~~ Anti-Aboleth Society

Active Regions: Southern Region 2.

Meaning, Exploration, and Celebration: +5

Security and Hope: +0

Trust, Humanitarianism, and Belonging: +0

##### Events

~~Secret Aboleth Cult (Crisis: -2 Empowerment and Engagement, -1 Security and Hope): What people know is that certain people come to the cathedral and their lives are changed. A few know the truth and have formed a settlement on the shore away from the main outpost, fearful of cultists dragging them back. While officially there's nothing going on, people know something is wrong, though most don't know what and may blame those who escaped.~~ Resolved! Aboleth destroyed.

### Description

The tritons of Avathís (ah-vah-THEES) main presence in Kumari Kundam (insofar as scouting parties have been able to determine) is a trading outpost named Miralta. Though typically tritons travel under the sea, they learned to sail from the elves of the (now fallen) Kingdom of Wyselle. Far from the workaday uses of shipping and war, the Avathean ships are meant for speed and are used in racing and fishing competitions with strange pole, line, and hook mechanisms also learned from the land-dwellers. These are exotic sports to those used to the deepest parts of the sea, and the city has become a mix of thrill-seekers and those who wish to trade with the surface lands. They are uninterested in entering areas beyond the immediate shore, though they enjoy stories about the people, creatures, and terrain of those areas. Their trading values are strange to most, as what they find valuable and what they find worthless are very different to what most races would consider so: pearls are nuisances that interrupt the eating of oysters (a delicacy of shallow seas unavailable to deep sea dwellers back home) while vegetables like tomatoes, chilis, and squash are considered quite valuable.

There is a sense that there is some trouble and often traders discuss certain items in their language in tones that imply urgency or great risk. If the outpost is any indication, however, the tritons are neutral in conflicts between other land civilizations and not especially heavily armed. They enjoy obvious prosperity, so it's unclear what threat might exist or whether there is any chance of it reaching to this trading post.

As with many remote outposts of larger civilizations, there are many who have become wealthy seemingly overnight due to effort and being in the right place at the right time, and others can maintain a comfortable standard of living serving them. There is work in caravans or warehouses for those who want it, and it commands a good wage. The warehouses are beyond the reefs and are rumored to contain large quantities of materials, which help the merchants control prices back home. This general well-being has translated into low tensions among the population, as everyone who has come here shares a goal of finding new sources of wealth and there is plenty of opportunity without direct competition. Politically, the ruling council is consensus-driven and advised by the merchant guild from which they are elected, and unlike other such bodies the discussions are amiable even when they are weighing different ideas.

They seem to be a pious people but their religious rites are closed to outsiders. There is cathedral complex that is completely submerged in the center of the lagoon and outsiders are encouraged in polite but direct tones to steer away from this area. There are rumors that the priests perform powerful rituals and divine healing inside the cathedral, but it is unusual for clerics of such reputation to make a remote outpost such a spiritual center. They are not intolerant of outsiders, though, so long as they respect the privacy of their religion they will not ask too many questions about the beliefs of visitors. Perhaps due to the strength of the clergy, there are no centers of magical experimentation or practice, and most of what they have seems to have been imported from the deep sea or traded with coastal neighbors.