Cieryn

Cieryn is a small sub-continental island nestled between Rathnir and Eldham. It is home to various species though primarily inhabited by pigmen. It is also quite bio-diverse, containing many rainforests, plains and deserts. The western area of Cieryn is a strange anomaly for there it rains for entire days at a time without stopping. The weather cycle seems opposite to the areas unaffected by torrential precipitation as there are only a few days every month where it stops raining. This had led to the belief that in Cerant (the western Cyricc language) there are 150 different words for rain, when in truth there are only 87. While if you were to ask a random Eldhamite or Rathniran whether they knew of Cieryn they would most likely say no, it is well known to many traders and sailors who now use it as a break point when travelling between Rathnir and Eldham, and it's economy is mostly based around maritime trade. It is home to many scholars and philosophers along with great thinkers, however most never leave the continent or even the province they were born in, hence why only those that come across it regularly on ships know of it. It's history goes back thousand's of years, which on most species timescale is average, however with the 27 year lifespan of most Cyrric pigmen it is incredibly ancient.

## Etymology

*Cieryn* literally means our land in Cerantic, after the first Rathnirans fully entered *Cieryn* and asked what the inhabitants call the land, while the *Ceirfyrr* (the natives of *Ceiryn*) believed they were asking who owned the land. *Cieryn* is and amalgamation of *Cyr* (meaning community/our) and *Eiyrn* (meaning land/territory)

## Inhabitants

Cieryn contains many sentient creatures as well as many animals that are present in Rathnir and Eldham and also animals specific to Cieryn and not found anywhere else which suggests that it was once recently a connection between Rathnir and Eldham that was cut off leading to different animals occupying different niches than previously. It is home to many pigmen sub-species and races, however pigmen are a relatively new addition on Cieryn's timeline after it was colonised by them hundreds of or a thousand years ago after the Great Migration of Pyaicfyrr. On it's western coasts there are a few human fishing settlements, however they tend to not stray far inland and remain along the coast, which the native pigmen are glad for due to their culture of semi-isolationism.

## Culture

Cyrric Culture is vast and varying, influenced by the various different groups of pigmen that arrived in Cieryn after the Great Migration and the environment that each culture developed in. There is no single culture of Cieryn despite their recent divergences. To the west the culture is much more similar to certain cultures in Rathnir, and would be considered more "civilised" than other cultures on Cieryn by foreign powers, but only because they are more readily to accept foreign influence, while in the desolate mountains there is a greater resistance to outsiders and they retain a more "pure" Cyrric culture. The plains tend to consistent of nomadic pigmen and walled villages of nomads who settled down (Which they call "resting", suggesting eventually the will return to their nomadic roots).

In Caraffice it is custom to add "an" to before the last vowel of every 3rd child's name e.g. the name of Anu -> Ananu, Danu -> Dananu and Lombsa -> Lombsana. As around 7-10 piglets are born from a pregnancy, it is cultural practice and tradition to have a "counting party", where family members count every third and then mark them with a dye on their chest which stains their skin. For each piglet they use a different dye. They keep a close eye on them so they do not lose count. As the numbers 3 and 9 are holy numbers, it is believe that every incrementing factor of 3 brings greater luck, honour and power to the child. "An" is added as it is a shortened version of *ânaf* which means pride.

### Clans and Families

There are a total of 8 Grand Clans that make up the Council of Cieryn. There once was a 9th, the Grand Clan of the piglins, but after the second war of heaven they were exiled any those that remained were violently killed and lynched, down to the smallest piglinet. These grand clans are the highest in the taxonomy of Cyrric relations, being made up of several clans with a head clan that spans many cities and villages. While there are no nations on Cieryn (if you do not account the few foreign nations' fishing colonies along it's coast), grand clans are the closest you would get to them as they effectively are "dynastical empires" with many vassal "states". They control many of the regions of Cieryn, and the regions themselves are mostly defined along historical clan control of certain areas along with biomes and the similarity of different animals and cultures within them. Each grand clan is dominated by usually one single race of the Cyrric pigmen, with only some having equal amounts of various different sub-species.

This is because ever since the first council of 9 after the first war of heaven, the *Ceirfyrr* grouped around strong leader and those with similar ideals, and these ideals were passed on to the children, which had a hand in the creation of distinct races and cultures. Historically there was much more interbreeding between clans, specifically between allied clans, sub-clans and liege and vassal clans. Some clans however saw breeding with those of a different race or even seperate clan as taboo and wanted to keep their clan as "Pure" as possible - for example some southern clans and piglin clans. Piglins became the most genetically different to other races due to their own isolation and also clan's that fought against them and other clans distancing themselves from them. Clan taxonomy is usually organised by size, with large clans generally consisting of smaller clans, with the smaller clans still being reasonably large and spanning many villages and cities, which can then be divided into sub-clans are even smaller clans which may contain sub-clans which are then made up of separate families which can be divided up the same as the clans all the way down to sub-families or even a family consisting of only a dozen *fyrr*.

### Language

The language of Cieryn is much like the culture. An amalgamation of different influences from before the great migration lumped together and then split to then evolve more different areas, creating lots of closely related but mutually distinct language, with some being mutually intelligible and more on the rank of dialects, and others sounding completely alien to each other. Due to the tendency to remain where you were born and the rarity of movement to a different area, dialects and accents were quick to form inside the language themselves, as well as the period of peace/isolation where most tribes and clans cut off relations with each other and relied only on self sufficiency after a great war, which further developed the accents. In some cities the families inside those cities themselves have distinct accents, and how you speak has is a strong part of your identity in Cieryn which you can't change for the better or worse. Many trained spies and assassins must learn to change how they speak within a few weeks for the smallest mispronunciation may give them away. The language of Cieryn is called *Cerant* which means "our language" from *Cyr* (meaning community/our) and *ran* (meaning language) - which comes from the same mistranslation incident as *Cieryn*. Even if it came from a misunderstanding it isn't far from a true name for the language as there is none as the names of the previous languages that made this one have all been forgotten - so "our language" is a quite apt description, and is used in the speakers of Cerant's vocabulary today.

### Religion

Originally there were many religions that came with the migration belonging to different groups which is why some links can be seen between the religion of Cieryn and religion across Eldham and Rathnir. Much like the culture and language they eventually merged together and a new religion was formed. This religion is known as Paenrfyrrism by foreigners, as yet again Cerant does not have a true name for it as they take it for a fact, and is named after the head of the pantheon and the creator of gods, *Paenrfyrr*. *Paenrfyrr* literally means creator of all beings from the verb *Paenur* (to create), *ero* (all/everything) and *fyrr* (beings). In Cieryn most believe in Paenrfyrrism, yet there are still schisms due to the sub-religions each clan believes in, in which they worship a specific god from the pantheon and have their own views on the history of the pantheon.

Religion is strongly tied to mana/life force and runes. Rune priests can contact gods, or remnants of gods, through writing runes and they can imbue weapons and armour with power through runes. Runes are a language of the ancients and it is believed that the god's themselves gifted the pyaicfyrr with the gift of writing, hence why runes allow people to communicate with them. Rune priests are masters of the craft and hold power over most clans or run them. Scholars of runes study runes in excruciating detail and dedicate their entire life to it. They do not have to possess the ability to imbue power through runes and do not have to contain more than the average mana, but instead focus on optimising rune combinations for the rune priests to then use. Many religious figures get tattoos which are believed to give them permanent power, however you must undergo a series of trials in order for you to gain a tattoo. The most powerful rune priests sometimes have entire limbs covered in the dark teal ink. There is the risk of infection and if it happens then they will not be provided any medical assistance as they believe it is a way for the god's to test them further. During a war an enemy rune priest may be captured and to prevent them from using their powers given to them by the tattoos, they are deformed through burning their skin resulting in horrific scars.

Each god is representative of a specific fruit, vegetable and rarely a specific animal, which are believe to be physical containers of the god's power. Paenrfyrr was the only god capable of creating entirely new gods out of a physical manifestation of a specific concept. The only other way new gods are created is through a "death" of a god or "reproduction" between gods. Both of these concepts only apply to living beings however they are similar metaphors to what actually occurs. When a god is "killed" it is done through destroying it as a physical manifestation and so the god returns to live as the concept it was the god of, and can no longer physically appear as a true "being", however they can still answer prayers and influence certain events without direct communication. When a god is returned to where it came from part of it splits into 3 separate gods representing certain previous characteristics of the god, along with parts of their personality and physical features. Some get more of their parent than their siblings and so are more powerful- however when they are born, much like a baby, they are weak and must grow to their full potential.

When Paenrfyrr was returned to where he came from, as he came from every being and thing, he and his mana spread throughout all of the realms, with some of it becoming minor-deities and some of it entering babes in their mothers womb. The descendants of these beings would be great containers of mana and powerful mages and wizards.

There are 3 different types of god's according to the definition by scholars of Paenrfyrrism, the first god's including Paenrfyrr and the Gods he singlehandedly created, the second Gods including the offspring of two or more gods or the ones as results of a god's death, and third gods are minor deities created by the mana left by the death of a god. Technically there could also be two more, primordials and demi-gods however they do not fit the specific requirements of a true god.

## History

### Pre-Migration

Before the Great Migration it is believed that it was a geologically recent land bridge between Rathnir and Eldham due to the similarity of different species on both worlds to those found on Cieryn. However there is also conflicting evidence as there are many species on Cieryn that cannot be found anywhere else so it may have been disconnected from the two worlds much earlier than thought. It is believed that there was once a sentient species native to Cieryn but is has since disappeared -either being killed off by diseases brought after the Great Migration or by some disaster before-, only leaving some ancient ruins as a pitiful mark on the world. In Paenrfyrrism it is believed Cieryn was created by the dead body of a giant boar during the War of Heaven. After the war in heaven what is called the days of chaos or dark ages began, with the world being plunged into horrific bouts of plagues and starvation and terror and blood.

### The Great Migration

In (...)BSS hundred's of thousands of pigmen, all different cultures and races and religions travelled and then settled in Cieryn. It is an established theory that they fled from something, but it is unknown what. A translation of an ancient tablet left in lake told of a "flood", however this could mean many things other than a rise in water level as it is translated from an ancient language that only few understand and even then there can easily be mistranslations, and also the term flood can also refer to a sudden rise in a number of things, not just water, such as a sudden horde of others entering the area, peaceful or aggressive. Whatever caused this mass migration, it's impact Cieryn was massive, with the thousands of pigmen setting up settlements all over it and farming and hunting on it's land. Many exotic aggressive species went extinct and other smaller species flourished due to the lack of predation. However soon a balance was reached and many religious leaders of the various towns decided to hold a meeting to prevent the destruction of their new homeland further, and from then on religious leaders were in charge of ensuring no harvesting of resources went over the quota set for each village or town according to their population and other factors.

### Post-Migration Rennaissance

After the migration the many different sects of the original settlers that had previously refused to mix began to interbreed more due to prolonged exposure with each other, creating a stronger single identity of being *Cyrric*. While much of the land remained populated by nomadic tribal clans, along the coasts and dotted sparsely across plains grand towns and then cities sprang up signifying a beginning of a more civilised land, yet still not on the level of the now forgotten lands that surrounded it. The religion that had began forming since they had stepped foot on the island sub-continent grew exponentially, replacing many of the folk religions that were remnants of specific beliefs held before the migration. As the religion grew so did the power of the god's and the ability to communicate with them became a symbol of power and so more clan leaders became rune priests or at least heavily involved in religion. Philosophy became a major part of society, even within the nomad clans, with the mind becoming an equally valued tool as the hoe and scythe. With this the age of prosperity in Cieryn began with universities being constructed and large clans taking over large areas of land and crafting spheres of influence over separate regions of Cieryn which led to the creation of the 9 Grand clans. Trade routes flourished between clans on cieryn and also across the seas to other lands, with some clans managing to set up outpost colonies on the various islands between Rathnir and Eldham and even on their shores. Many clans fought over territory, yet the wars nevewr yielded vast casualties and broken relation quickly healed over one or two generations. However this age of grandeur on Cieryn would soon ironically be disrupted by the beliefs that let it begin.

### Second war of heaven

As the clans power grew equally, the clans soon did not care as much for resources as for developing ideas and philosophies. And with the various clans relatively independent developing of philosophies, each clans beliefs and structures grew drastically different to each other. Some clans who maintained close relations with each other were not as affected as much, but clans such as the Grand Clan of the Piglins, while they had become more accepted into other Cyrric clan cultures, still remained distant to their *Pyaiceirfyrr* brethren. Eventually the growing schisms of belief and religion became visibly clear with various *Ceirfyrr* of different beliefs attacking each other in and across clan borders. While some rune priests wanted to prevent a religious war, others were supported by certain god's to further their own aims (as while each sub-religion in cieryn will most likely call the god they support fair and understanding they are mostly equally power hungry just like the various creatures they had created in their image). Soon the climate grew into disarray with storms sweeping in only seconds after a drought and a harsh bright sun. The god's were restless and also arguing and fighting between themselves. As most of the first gods had "died" there was no one to take control and sort out disagreements. Surprisingly the war was not started as one clan or god had lots more power than the other but for the opposite reason as each clan and god has slightly more or less power than another which meant they could bully each other but still not instantly take control of or destroy their opposition. This war went on for hundreds of years with clans and gods switching sides and allegiances seemingly every generation, with millions dyeing and fertile soil being razed to the ground. It was not until the war devolved into a replay of the first war with many of the children of Beetroot and their allies of smaller deities and piglins appearing on one side and many other clans and gods appearing on the other. While the sides in the war now were remaining unchanged, with there being an actual strong purpose behind the war, the casualties did not decrease. After much bloodshed the side headed by a coalition of the western clans and the children of Chorus and Potato came out of what would be called the victors, yet in this war like most others there was no truly positive outcome with millions more dyeing of starvation and disease after the war, as well as to roving bands of bandits who had turned to crime to sate their hunger and poverty.

Over the next hundred of year there was little to no defined borders of clans, with them constantly shifting and small skirmishes for resources still plaguing the land. Eventually, after a grand effort from many rune priests, the council of 9 re-conviened and decided that the piglins had been the ones to break the peace and they had made no effort to reconcile and so all piglins would be exiled or killed. While they could have found a much less harsh and sinister solution, many of the leaders upon the council wanted more resources and held immense grudges against them believing piglins not to be true *Pyaicfyrr* or children of any gods, but a mistake that should be eradicated by the "true" followers of Paenrfyrrism. With that thousands left and many found refuge in the nether with the "true" piglins that still maintained a resemblance to them more so that to the other *Pyaiceirfyrr* races. Hundreds of piglin were lynched by angry hordes of those seeking for revenge or a scapegoat for their situation.

### Re-Cuperation

It was not until hundred's of years after the second war in heaven that they re-re-discovered the technology for crossing the oceans with the help of some of the slowly increasing number of strangers visiting the land from somewhere afar in great wooden vessels. With this they were able to rebuild even further and become closer to their past peak of civilisation post-migration, and soon an age of peace and beauty settled upon the land, with clans being relatively self sufficient and made up of a majority of farmers spread across the countryside.

## Geography

An extremely diverse sub-continent with many different biomes, including temperate and tropical rainforests to the south and west, swamps, bogs and mountains to the west and north, mesa's and deserts to the north east, and plains stretching across the centre. While it lies nearer the centre of the world, like both Rathnir and Eldham the biomes are not situated depending on latitude but on different conditions influenced by powers beyond our comprehension.

## Regions

### West Cieryn

The westernmost region of Cieryn known for it's constant rainfall further inland up to the mountains and it's rich coastal cities.

#### Caraficce

The capital for the current clan in control of Cieryn ,Cariseti. Caraficce is known for it's giant cliff edges and vibrant market, and the entire coast of the city is a conglomeration of various ports belonging to different powerful families, trading guilds, and the public. The different families of the clan that struggle for control of the city usually use trading in order to further their power, due to Caraficce now relying heavily on foreign imports. Famous families of Caraficce belonging to the Cariseti clan through blood or marriage include the Atreiles, the Cariseti, the Anuumes and the sub-family Dorohth-Gann-caan coming from the separate Clan of Dorohth. Caraficce is the character Ananu's Birth city. It means Cliff Port from *Caraf* (cliff) and *Isûl* (port - a combination of *Isaen* (boat) and the suffix *-ûl* (denominating a place)). Many of the Names of places and people in West Cieryn are Rathnirised on maps and in the Traveller's tongue due to the longer exposure to the western continent, however in other regions they still are clearly foreign words on maps.

### Western Mountains

Ananu's grandfather Dhari was born in the Western Mountains. His heritage can still be seen through his surname *Anuum'Caan* which means "Of Anuum", with the custom of your surname being representative of your father

## Clarifications

*Ceirfyrr* - Inhabitants of Cieryn

*Pyaiceirfyrr* - Cyrric pigmen

*Cerantic* - Rathnirised name for the family of languages of Cieryn

*Pyaicfyrr* - Cerantic for pigmen in general

*Fyrr* - In general means people/ sentient beings

*Cyrric* - describing something of Cieryn e.g. Cyrric art, Cyrric Pigmen

When talking about piglins they are not necessarily the same as modern piglins, but they shared their roots from before the migration with the descendants of what are now piglins, and some of the Cyrric piglins whose ancestors refused to breed with any of the other fellow races of the migration are possibly more genetically similar to non-cyrric piglins than fellow *Ceirfyrr*. Many modern piglins however can trace part of their ancestry to the piglins of Cieryn, as many Cyrric Piglin refugees were taken in by those in the nether.

First/Second War of Heaven - Name of semi-mythical wars between god's along with the beings on their sides

Names for the regions are placeholders before further language creation

The Great Migration - a migration/fleeing of different kinds of pigmen into Cieryn for an unknown reason.