Variman

The human kingdom of Imeris, Variman was home to a dutiful people who would later become the **Lambent Front** after their civil war and their descent into the Helmarch.

Founded initially by the three children of Thidrek the Varimanian, the theocratic kingdom saw prosperous growth as it expanded alongside its core religion, the **Seskantige Preke**, and eventually formed six regions with each establishing a House to their respective Archon.

The city of Roldhass, the capital of Linesse, served as the bastion of the Lambent Front throughout the Helmarch in **Gehenna**, having been sundered at the climax of the civil war.

## Organizations

### The Rulers of the Robe and the Land

Variman was a land claimed in the name of the Archons, and as such the keepers of the faith, the Judges held vast power in even secular affairs. Contrary to the bureaucratic Nobles of the Araenic Kingdom or the Holdlords in Vothan Lands, the administrative duties of Variman were divided between the Judges, priests of the Seskantige Preke, and the Heersers, the term for the landed nobility of Variman. That said, it was quite common for Judges to be nobles or ennobbled, and in most places their role was hereditary.

Each of the six provinces of Variman was a Gebied overseen by a High Judge, who would be in charge of both the Judges and the various Heersers of the land, although it was solely up to the Judges to elect their successors. This is part of what kept the noble Heersers tightly interwoven with the clergy, as getting those you favour to rule over you ultimately required sway among them, which often meant familial ties. The High Judges themselves answered to the King, and marriages and blood relations also often served to maintain close bonds with the Royal Family, whose rule was thought to be ordained by the Archons.

### The Royal Family

Descended from the line of Thidrek the Varimanian, the Kingdom of Variman followed agnatic primogeniture with the eldest son taking the throne and ruling from the Royal Palace in the capital of Old Variman located in Vestigstad. The Monarchy held theoretical autocratic secular and theocratic power over all of Variman, but in actuality this power was largely curtailed by the Judges and the Heersers, with most of their authority being concentrated in Vestigstad

### The Varimanian Army

As Kingdom founded by divine conquest, Variman's military to is bound by the Judges and the structures of the Seskantige Preke. Variman maintained a dedicated standing force in the form of the three Militant Holy Orders, **the Lambent Front**, the Valiant Legion, and the Mud Dredgers. While these orders were well disciplined and fanatical, their limited size meant that during times of war they would need to be supplemented by levies from the provinces, raised by each Temple to serve as the bulk of an army.

As Variman crumbled during the Civil War, the three Militant Orders were largely crushed save for the Lambent Front. As the people were forced into Gehenna and the Helmarch began, where all surviving Varimanians were conscripted into the Lambent Front in order to survive the coming 15 year ordeal.

### The Holy Orders

The Six Holy Orders were pillars of Varimanian society, upholding its values and providing crucial social functions. The three Militant Orders, the Lambent Front, the Valiant Legion, and the Mud Dredgers primarily served as an armed force, but during times of peace they also had civil functions. The Lambent Front were protectors of the people and keepers of the peace. The Valiant Legion dedicated themselves to the creation of sublime works of art and the spreading of the Sixfold Teachings, and the Mud Dredgers oversaw works of civil engineering and construction. Meanwhile, the Magisteriate aided in the oversight of legal matters while the Chroniclers saw to matters of record keeping and education. The Inquisition, the most reviled holy order, ensured the spiritual purity of the nation, while also somewhat aiding in the capturing of criminals.

## Geography

Located in the North-West of Imeris along the inner sea, Variman was somewhat smaller than its eventual **Entente** counterpart the **Araenic Kingdom**.

### Vestigstad

Vestigstad, or first settlement in Old Varimanian, lied on the shores of the inner Imeris sea and includes the Kingdom’s capital of Old Variman. Both the House of Zeal and the Royal Palace were seated in the province, and is said to be where Thidrek himself ascended to Hemel following the battle of Variman. It was only due to the treachery of Prince Lethis that Vestigstad fell, as the first of the Kingdom's six regions to begin crumbling during the approaching Civil War.

### Auril

The region of Auril to the North East, was a colder, mountainous part of the otherwise coastal kingdom as well as home to the Archon Awe.  The area was largely volcanic and unfit for traditional farmland, though over time it was discovered to be rich in minerals. From here commodities such as gold and gemstones were slowly extracted and exported south, allowing for the local Heersers and Judges to become particularly wealthy and powerful, and furthering the divide between the mine owners and their less fortunate common workers.

Shortly before the fall of Variman, large areas of Auril were torched by the Inquisition in an attempt to root out Eris movements in the region's upper class, leaving it much abandoned prior to its people disappearing.

### Tassonne

The seat of the Varimanian Magisteriate, Tassone was home to the kingdom’s House of the Archon Justice, and thus its largest judicial institutions.

### Erswil

To the south east was Erswil, a work-centric region that would see a large portion of its inhabitants tending to long stretches of farmland. It provided produce to a majority of the kingdom thanks to its warmer climate and lakes. The House of the Archon Persistance was also credited for the region's consistent work ethic and talented intellectuals.

### Soholm

Soholm was the seat of the Lambent Front and the House of the Archon Fortitude. Famed for its intricate fortresses and castles, the region became the site of some of the fiercest struggles of the Civil War, as the many fortifications made both sides readily able to dig in.

### Linesse

The home to Variman’s largest and most prestigious places of learning, scholars from across the Entente flocked to this land to study in its halls. The Chroniclers famous attempted to gather all known knowledge of the material world as well as the **Geesteryk** within the House of the Archon Wisdom in Roldhass. This was the site of the final battles of the civil war, with the last of the Loyalist Varimanians defending the capital until its sundering and the beginning of the Helmarch.

## History

### A founding of conquest and faith

The history of the Seskantige Preke and Variman are intertwined, and both begin with a man named Thidrek, once a lowly shaman of a long forgotten Demiurge, but while burning offerings to their false god, the Archon of Zeal manifested in the flames and slowly began to whisper truths to them. This influence eventually led Thidrek to reject their false idol and embrace the Archon, and lead those who would follow him to carve out a new home for themselves. Those who continued to follow their false god were burned, setting the first in a long line of horrors. After decades of travelling across the lands, casting down false gods and converting new people to his beliefs, Thidrek fell in battle with their spirit being carried away in flame to join the Archons in the Geesteryk, winning the day for his followers.

Victorious, they found themselves on the shores of the inner seas of Imeris, and settled to found what would become the Kingdom of Variman. The children of Thidrek divided up the responsibilities of their father amongst themselves. Athal, Thidrek’s first son, took up the Crown and founded the lineage of the Kings of Variman. Amala, Thidrek’s first daughter, heard the whispers of the Archon and so became the first High Judge of Zeal. And finally Thorismund, Thidrek’s second son, kept his father's sword and founded the Duiweljagters, the first holy order dedicated to the Archons and precursor to the Inquisition.

Under the leadership of Thidrek’s children, the first stones were laid in what would become Variman, and the nomadic Varimanians would settle into new lives. As part of this settlement and to show the people’s commitment to the new faith, the first Temple of Zeal was raised. At the heart of the temple, Zeal was truly summoned, and according to Varimanian tradition it would remain there till the House’s destruction at the hands of the Cult of Eris.

### Where went the sword, the faith followed

As time passed and Athal’s descendants reigned, the Kingdom changed and grew. As part of this growth, more Archons were honoured as they appeared to the Varimanians. Awe was the second to arrive, being summoned by a congress of Judges to remind the people of Variman of the sublime power of the Archons and the commitment they had made to the faith following the settling of Auril. The next was Justice, who came during a period of tyranny and misrule, guiding Variman to righteous order under the law and bringing with it Tassone. Persistence was summoned by a King who sought to restore his people's drive and motivation, founding Erswil, and Fortitude was called down when Variman seemed threatened by destruction and spurred the Kingdom into its militaristic tradition with the region of Soholm. Finally, Wisdom, the last of the Varimanian Archons was called by a far distant descendant of Athal and Thidrek, seeking the knowledge of their forebears so they could rule with such foresight and dignity, crediting the conquest of Linesse to the Archon's guidance and establishing its Great Library.

### Civil War and destruction of Variman

The Varimanian Civil War saw the destruction of the Six Houses of the Archons, returning them to the Geesteryk as their followers were nearly wiped out. Over 70 years have passed since then, and while the survivors of the Lambent Front still carry the old beliefs, they must adapt to a radically changed world, and now without the guidance of their Archons for the first time since their homeland had its founding.

## Culture

### Noble Houses

* **House Krieg:** Line of Inquistors including the last Lord Inquisitor Hendrik Krieg
* **House Lasch:** Noble Family (Judge), included a Lambent Front Colonel specifically Edwin Lasch
* **House Audaire:** Noble Family (Heerser) which was slaughtered in for being Eris supports barring its young scion Mathias
* **House Asmel:** Noble Family (Judge), produced a Lambent Front, Emmerich Asmel. Family associated with Archon of Awe
* **House Aart:** Produced a Lambent Front Colonel, Colonel Aart.
* **House Allaire:** Noble Family (Heerser), associated with Archon of Justice