Agraurans

The **Agrauran** are among the first inhabitants of Askedoria - their civilisation precedes that of the Etoi and Iskuzai. The most ancient Askedorian cities such as Adramittum were first founded by the Agrauran people. There Agraurans are expert stonemasons and architects and are known to build their settlements hidden within mountains or underground. Their religious practices emphasise worship of the dead and include blood sacrifices. Over the past centuries, most Agraurans have either been assimilated into the dominant cultures of the Iskuzai and Zeugridas or forced to flee into the Acmonides Mountains where they have formed small, reclusive communities.

The Agrauran are believed to have been the earliest rulers of Askedoria: the first to extend their dominion from the Phoinikobaptos Valley to the distant coasts of Phrizenia in the east. The Agrauran built great necropolis-cities in the burrows of mountains, in caves and sacred caverns. Many of these lost capitals are still buried, forgotten under Iskuzai temples or layers of mud and dust. Great was the wisdom of the Agrauran. Dodekathia itself, the cult of the Twelve Gods, was the fruit of their meeting with the first Etoi settlers who brought their own religious tradition from the distant continent of Oikidas. But some legends tell that the most powerful of the Agrauran Dynasties, the priest-kings Eames, was guilty of such heinous impiety that it aroused divine anger so great that the Immortals decreed the end of their mighty kingdom. According to these tales, due to the Etoi invasion, the Agrauran were forced to mass migration that led them to the inhospitable region between Lake Ancylus and Mount Acmonides. It is a cruel land, devoid of water, but thanks to it they managed to escape death and slavery. Other poems recall a time when the two peoples lived in peace. Some of them say that the Great Library of Adramittum used to be a temple dedicated to prosperity, erected by master builders of both the Agrauran and the Etoi. Just like in their most ancient past, the Agrauran are said to still offer daily blood sacrifices to their deceased and live in large houses where the dead and the living share the same space. Besides the Gods and their ancestors, the priests of this people offer great honors to Kinocentaurs, the mysterious keepers of the Kingdom of the Blood Rivers, where the souls of the dead gather.

## History

> "The heirs of the Travelling-King Sarde carved their hidden cities in the yellow stones of the Western continent, far away from their homeland. The new capitals were called Er, Sarde, Arnissos, and Emrita: they were like four jewels, placed under the crust of the earth, beautiful as the cities the Agrauran had left behind many years before. They selected a long stretch of coast to build the New Kingdom, and being a people of proficient architects and stoneworkers, they shaped the land according to the vision of the elected King: they changed the course of rivers, moved hills, built tortuous roads, excavated mines of silver and constructed many underground temples, mound-houses, and colossal cenotaphs.
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> However, despite their greatness, they were scared because the King had renounced to guide them to the Island of the Sun, where the Shining God returns at the end of the day. Many sacrifices and prayers were offered, but since all the Gods the Agrauran knew were siblings of Arnissos, the Radiant-Sleeper, victims were slain in vain while the winds scattered the dark smoke of pyres in all directions. Four Generations passed, and then four followed, but the castes of the Agraruan people could not find any respite from their terror: they feared the day Arnissos would wake up from his Shining slumber, obscuring the Sky with his dark visage.
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> To this grim fate, a defense could not be found, but in the fourth month of the Howling Year, when Arnisotha-Eames was elected King, a good Omen appeared in the Sky, and then a fleet emerged from the pink-colored horizon: hundreds of slender ships, with colorful banners and blue sails. They were led by a Queen, veiled by a cerulean, translucent cloth, and covered in precious silver. The wise King Arnisotha organized a banquet and welcomed in his abode the exhausted people and their eminent captain: they all appeared to have traveled a lot and suffered terrible adventures before reaching the coast. However, bitter pain, instead of weakening their spirit, had made them knowledgeable, haughty in their manners but generous and pensive.
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> The foreigners worshipped their Queen, Amitubara, like a Goddess; indeed, she seemed like one: a mistress of the waves, calm and silent like the mighty expanse of the Sea in a still night. During the feast, the venerable woman captivated the King's attention by speaking softly about mysterious Gods, unknown to the Agrauran. She described the pale-faced Cirta in such a way that Arnisotha thought he could place the four castes of his people under her protection. However, not the speech alone enthralled him: her perfumed presence, and piercing gaze, made the King yearn for her company more than he had ever desired his legitimate wives.
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> His interest did not pass unnoticed by the youngest of them, the blonde-haired Epheta, who brooded fierce resentment in her bosom. Thus, the following morning, she prayed to the Great God to avenge her wronged love. Besides, possessed by devouring jealousy, she added to her request these bitter words: "Arnisotha and Amitubara scheme to introduce a new God inside the orderly perfection of the Four Castes. Your people have renounced to reach the Golden Island, where Flesh and Blood are made eternal: in their stolidity, they prefer a brief life of comfort to the glory of your House. Hear me and punish those treating you like an old servant whose wisdom is no longer respected."
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> By speaking this way, she hoped to persuade the God and wake him. However, Arnissos did not reply, and Amitubara came to live with the King in a beautiful palace erected above the ground, close to the Sea, among pearl-tinted waves and scented bushes. Her people mingled peacefully with the Agrauran, and many joyous weddings were celebrated in the following years. Thus, the union between the builders of necropoli and the Seafaring folk was established. For this reason, in the myths, those years are called the Age of Etoidisia, which means, the Age of Those Who knew Happiness, and those born in that era were called Etoi, because they were happy. But the prayers of Epheta, the jealous wife, had not been pronounced in vain: in fact, it is said the Sun remained silent only because he was still sleeping, covered by the luminous mantle that the Sky Goddess once possessed. However, his stupor was bound to vanish."
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