The Listerian Isles

### Trade agreements

Close trade with The Talus EmpireLimited trade with the CPE due to direct competition

## Science

### Notable technologies

Rapid Deployment Ships aka Harpies that are fastest on Anagrian

## Military

### Fighting capable people

~100k, with approximately 50 regular ships and 20 harpy ships

### Notable extras

Rapid Deployment of Harpy Ships gives quick response to anywhere in Tenebris Ocean

## History

### The Angelic Isles (The Dawn Ages)

During the Dawn Ages, when Amun and Kuk'sar built their civilizations across Anagrian, a group of angels settled within a small set of isles off the coast of Edos, south of Vrok, which had not been subjected to the endless force of nature yet and were a soft and healthy land. They built a city across the isles, spanning over the oceans and crowned with buildings of shimmering marble. Within this city, they taught each other their ways, creating a school of magics. When the Dawn War struck, the school and much of the Angelic Isles was destroyed and sunken beneath the waves, abandoned as the angels were recalled to heaven.

### The Fae Courts (4000 BFNE-2000 BFNE)

As with much of the rest of Auron, the first civilization following the Dawn War to grow on Anagrian was that of the Fae, who crossed to the main Listerian Isles after developing within Helianen, Generath, and Ur-Taen. The faction of Fae that arrived at the Listerian Isles were unlike their fellows, and did not favor the deep woods of Auron, instead preferring the sheltered coves of the Isles and the wind-swept rocky landscape of the Islands. They nested within the landscape and formed their own Seelie and Unseelie Courts. However, unlike the Fae of the Forests that performed the Torri rituals, the Fae of the Isles did not, and as such, the Seelie and Unseelie both remained on the Listerian Isles.

The Seelie of the Isles became known as the Court of Water, of the Blood that connected all, the great unifying pulse. After generations, they became Sirens and lampreys, twisted by the presence of their Unseelie counterpart. The Unseelie of the Isles became known as the Court of Air, of the thrum of energy that ran through all, the unending hum. They were twisted by the Seelie too, becoming spirits that drained the mana from what they touched, inter-woven into the hum. These twistings of the Fae isolated them from their counterparts on Auron, and they fled into hiding within the Isles, no longer making contact.

### The Dragon Empire (2000 BFNE-596 BFNE)

Like all of Auron, the Listerian Isles were incorporated into the Dragon Empire. The small amount of land and the presence of the Fae however lended itself to a lack of major terrestrial settling, and as such, the primary occupants of the land where primarily sea dragons and other aquatic life. A large amount of the population of the mer-folk Dragon-made were crafted amongst the Isles.

In 700 BFNE, the Dragon Emperor abandoned most of Southern Auron, which included the Listerian Isles, due to the danger possessed by a weapon unleashed by the Storjrya from the rebellion and the subsequent loss of most of the forces. There are remnants of Storjrya presence within the Isles, but much like the rest of Anagrian, they are few and all decimated, with the largest site remaining at Matena. Another site of archeological interest on the Listerian Isles from this time period was the island of Cao'Elon'Ai, which was the only known Nightborne attempt at settling on Auron. Contact with it was lost around 725 BFNE, with no attempt at recovery made.

### The Listerian Kingdom (596 BFNE-50 BFNE)

Following the abandonment of the south of Auron by the Dragon Emperor, many of the Hespern across Auron fled to the lands of Setral, Rael, and the Listerian Isles, with the majority settling within Setral and Rael. Led by a group of Hespern, whose leader was named Faion, who had learned of a god of the stars and of freedom from the remnant of angelic structures buried across Anagrian and created a new form of travel magic, the Hespern settled across South Auron in the hope of achieving freedom from the oppression of the empire. The first of these was established in the coastal fields of Setral, the kingdom of Set. The second was in the woods of modern Rael, which at the time stretched into Setral, known as the kingdom of Ral. The third to be founded was within the fields of Rael, by the family of El. The last and smallest was the Listerian Kingdom, founded by the Listerian family across the main islands of the Listerian Isles.

The first of the Listerian dynasty was a woman by the name of Thalia Listerian, a Hespern who settled in the island now known as Shiprest with a large group of refugees from Ur-Taen in 596 BFNE. They settled in Shiprest, where they met the Fae courts. While not the first time of them encountering Fae, as the Fae were present in Ur-Taen, it was the first time they had encountered an Unseelie Court. The courts of the Isles were not kind, their years of isolation lending to a firm distaste, but like all Fae, they were bound by their rules. They threatened to destroy the refugees if not pacified, and, in a fashion that historically always goes well, Thalia made a deal with the Courts. She offered her twin sons, one by the name of Forsyn and the other by the name of Bivyrtue to the care of the Courts, to raise and bring up as their own. Forsyn was taken into the Court of Water and his brother, Bivyrtue into the Court of Air. Thalia would never see her boys again, but over the years to come, Forsyn would become the first vampire, twisted by the Court of Water into the worship of blood, and Bivyrtue the first mana-feaster, bound by the Courts of Air to consume the energy of all things. The Courts of Water and Air would be twisted and shattered by the sons over the years as they grew more powerful than their Fae owners, eventually becoming gods and leaving their courts scattered to the wind, no longer truly Fae, but vampire and mana-feaster.

As for Thalia, her people expanded across the island, which they named Herebeorg, or refuge in the old common her people spoke. They grew into a small fishing community, relying on the native fish population of the Isles and the firm but hardy herbs and such across island. Their population grew steadily, with Thalia Listerian being succeeded by Avalya Listerian in 549 BFNE. When the travel magic of Faion became more closed and insular due to the attacks of 528 BFNE, the sudden island-based and ship-trained people of Herebeorg became quite wealthy due to being one of the main options for ship-based trade around . In 517 BFNE, Avalya Listerian died and was succeeded by her daughter, Ava Listerian. Ava heavily incentized the expansion of Herebeorg, both in terms of naval economy and physical land. She sent settlers to the southern island fully, where the far easier land quickly blossomed into a town, known as Ava. She did much the same simultaneously with the other islands, and they all began to be called Ava. For simplicities sake, she renamed the largest, the one on the central island, to be Ava Primus.

The increased dedication to naval economy sprouted a rapid increase in growth across the Listerian Isles, and under Ava, the Listerian Kingdom was founded officially as the last state to join the Faion Kingdoms in 494 BFNE. While the smallest in terms of land and population, the naval might of the Listerian provided a massive backbone of a powerful economy, with a small but rich merchant class rising to the top. The focus on trade also created the main back bone of the connections between the Nightborne Empire and the Faion Kingdoms. Ava Listerian died in 460 BFNE, passing the crown to her daughter Avalia Listerian.

Avalia's reign was primarily defined by the nationalization of naval trade. In the first ten years, the Dragon Emperor devastated the jungles of Stentuur, sundering it into a desert. The ecological impacts heavily killed off many fish species within the surrounding waters and caused a famine within the heavily pescatarian Isles. This further strengthened the aforementioned merchant class as their naval trade routes were instrumental for providing food to the Kingdom, a fact that merchant class took great advantage of, jacking up prices. For the first few years, this corruption was not massive and not incredibly harmful but by 445 BFNE, the impacts were great. Before the problem became too much to manage, Avalia apprehended all of the major leaders and took their companies, forming the Unified Listerian Shipping Company. The ULSC quickly became the most utilized shipping company on Anagrian, bringing a massive boom of wealth to the Listerian Isles by creating shipping and ensuring a constant supply route of food while the Isles recovered.

Over the following 60 years, Avalia slowly continued to nationalize many of the vital industries for the islands to secure survival through the famine. By the end of her reign in 379 BFNE, Avalia had nationalized the entire food distribution network of the Listerian Isles, from sourcing of fish, to trade, to processing and to distribution. She was succeeded by Avalya Listerian the Second. During this time period, there had been increased aggression from the Dragon Empire onto the Faion Kingdoms, primarily on any Faion found outside of their lands. In the Listerian Isles in particular, this was a problem as the infrastructure heavily relied on shipping, with a non-insignifcant amount of the members of the Listerian Kingdom being found on islands seperate of the main Isles, leaving them prone to being attacked. As such Avalya began to heavily invest in a greater military, large fleets of Naval ships primarily, supported by Nightborne magical enchantments to allow for quick response capabilities. To assist with this, Avalya also created forts across the far smaller unsettled islands across the Tenebris Oceans, allowing several ships to respond in incredibly quick timing. These forts, known as Outposts, stretched across the Tenebris Ocean, from the south of where it meets the Great Ocean all the way to the Triatic Sea and across the ocean to Edos.

One of these Outposts, located south of the lands of Vrok, was known as Outpost Chamberlian. After initial establishment by Officer Chamberlian in 346 BFNE, the soldiers of Outpost Chamberlian found something unusual buried across the weathered stones of the small set of islands they controlled. Buried and submerged by hundreds of thousands of years, ancient angelic marble rested, etched by hands that had long been lost to Heaven. Word was sent to Avalya, who personally made the trip to go investigate it. With the help of Nightborne researchers, the ruins of the Angelic Isles were uncovered and their connection to the angels established. While the Nightborne of the time believed the angels to be a force of perfect fairness and justice, enforcers of the Judge of Light, the Solarionite Faion believed them to be oppressors. However, the discovery of the temple of healing, which was remarkably well preserved, revolutionized these theories. It suggested that the angels were kind and friendly people, cooperative with each other and peace-makers. Their writings on healing magic, while impossible to reproduce by the harmonious-using Faion, who had been practicing druidic-style magics at the time, were quite different from the expected war-mongering. These discoveries, alongside the establishment of the Outpost, took up much of Avalya the Second's reign. Avalya died in 302 BFNE, passing her work onto Ava Listerian the Second.

Unlike her mother, however, Ava Listerian was not interested in the relics of the past, and the ruins of the Angelic Isles ceased to be the work of the Crown and became the work of the historians and scholars. Instead, Ava focused on the state of present. While her mother had been distracted by the Angelic Isles, the Faion had made plans with the Nightborne Empire to deal with the Dragon Empire prior to the prophesized collapse of the Nightborne.. The plan was of many intricate layers, but the first was open acts of aggression by the Faion into the lower reaches of the Dragon Empire's lands from the kingdoms of Set and Rael, while the Listerian Kingdom utilized it's rapid naval forces to harass the coasts of the Empire, to weaken and seperate the full legions of the Empire to eventually create a winning scenario. This method was heavily reliant on the Nightborne's chronomancy, as it allowed the Faion to be able to accurately predict what sort of retaliation was expected and when to issue retreats. Even so, many Faion lost their lives during this period.

Ava Listerian the Second died in 221 BFNE, and was succeeded by Ava Listerian the Third. Ava III continued the aggressive attacks, but did cease some of the Listerian activity in favor of defending the more remote isles, as they had begun to be targets by smaller Dragon Empire forces. In 200 BFNE, the Ava's forces were instrumental in organizing the Rebellion of the Dragon-Made, primarily in the merfolk of the oceans, who they assisted with freeing from their ocean dragon masters with Nightborne-made weaponry. With the merfolk by their sides, the Listerian Navy had nearly undisputed control of the waters, and were able to double-down on their hit and run tactics, killing many dragons. Ava Listerian the Third was assassinated by the Dragon Empire on March 15th, 145 BFNE, in the same night as the rest of the rulers and families of every other Faion Kingdom.

Like the rest of the Faion, the Listerian Kingdom was put under the brief military leadership of the Faionite Order of Solarion, who took power across the Kingdom to prevent it's total collapse and ensure that the war effort remained constant. Unfortunately for the Solarionites, none could predict the rampage of the Dragon Emperor on June 17th, 100 BFNE. While the Listerian Kingdom was almost entirely out of the path of his rampage, the attacks following this from the ocean dragons heavily devastated much of the external Isles, and in 50 BFNE, when Pestilence's plagues struck the Faion kingdom, the Listerian Kingdom, much like the rest of the Faion Kingdom, began to collapse, with the Solarionite council being unable to maintain power. Instead, they were supplanted by the Unified Republic of Amunists.

### The Unified Republic of the Isles (50 BFNE-600 AFNE)

The Unified Republic of Amunists was a faction of soldiers, historians, and business owners who had been inspired by the writings of the angels from the Angelic Isles (which had been circulated by the common folk since the death of Avalya Listerian the Second) and had converted to Amunism, enamored by the philosophy of a common good, of working together to ensure the prosperity of all, of each person supporting the next, and most notably, of all being equals. They had slowly been building within the main Isles during the following years, growing bigger and more disgruntled as the Listerian Kingdom, as they believed it, continued throwing resources and lives on a war that was not worth the cost. When the Solarionite control collapsed, they rapidly took power over the central isles with effectively zero resistance due to wide-spread working class support and access to a way to slow and even potentially cure the plague that was devastating the Faion kingdom. While the URA took over the central Isles, the external isles were left out to dry, with many fleeing to either the Nightborne Empire or the URA.

The URA was primarily led by two separate groups that cooperated for a successful leadership. The first of these groups was the Amunist church, a group of cultists within the Listerian Isles and founded the URA movement. Upon the URA's successful taking of the Isles, the Amunists rose to political prominence almost entirely due to offering ways to treat and even potentially cure the plagues that were devastating the Faion through the arts of sacred healing magic. With each new cured person, Amun found himself a new believer, and the church's influence grew. The other group was the Union of Laborers, a union of working class citizenry that was openly supported by the crown due to the increased support for governmentally controlled industry they created. When the crown fell, the Union became the de-facto controllers of the industrial might of the Isles. Together, the Church and the Union established firm control over the central islands within their first ten years of taking the lead.

When the Nightborne Empire collapsed, the impact to the Listerian economy was quite large, as the Nightborne Empire was a primary shipping partner of the Isles, with the loss of the cities and the non-Nightborne citizens hitting the economy hard, with Anagrian entering a period of stagnation for the next 100 years. This stagnation was mitigated in the Isles in large part by the enforcement of the Union's non-profit policies alongside the Church of Amun's charitable efforts, which further boosted public opinion of the groups. The stagnation was still incredibly rough for the Isles, with most of the external isles being abandoned as their residents moved towards the more populated center, both for economic prospects and for escape from the few remaining openly hostile dragons.

Fortunately for the Isles, not all of the remainders of the Dragon Empire had ill intent. In 97 AFNE, Gramenprimus planted the World Tree upon Nelinth, issuing a massive boom in animal and plant life across the waters that bordered it. This increase in available foodstocks was a great boon to the URA, who began to export large quantities of fish and became one of the major suppliers of food for the time period. In 155 AFNE, the URA entered a period of hostilities with the Sea and Sky Kingdom of Maora over land ownership of islands that previously belonged to the Listerian Kingdom but were now being taken by Maorans. The war lasted for approximately 10 years, of which all ten of those had little to no altercations, with the Isles and Sky treaty of 165 AFNE sealing that the land would belong to whoever first settled it. Unsurprisingly, the ancient nightborne vessels of the URA won the race easily, with many of the islands across the Tenebris Ocean becoming homes to a resurgence of the Outposts of the Listerian Kingdom's era.

From 165 AFNE-300 AFNE, the URA was preoccupied with this expansion, alongside creating trade relations with the other nations of Tian and it's expansion into Ur-Taen. In 300 AFNE, when the plagues finally lost their potency, the Union of Labor assisted the Solarionite caravans with settling in exchange for trade agreements. They gave them ships and the foundations of society, with the establishment of the Raelian People's Council being based upon the Union of Labor. This action was one of the first major splits between the Union of Labor and Church of Amun, as the Church of Amun pushed for Amunists to settle the land instead of the Solarionites, but were unable to actually do much about it due to the control of much of the economy by the Union of Labor, who believed that the Solarionite's should be allowed to return to their generational land.

This split in who owns the land was far greatly exasperated in 350 AFNE, when the Church of Amun moved in en mass into the lands of now-Helianen, claiming parts of the former kingdom of Setral and Rael for their own. They established the country of Helianen, named after their Pope at the time, Helian, with their original governmental structure based upon it's papacy. While the church of Amun may have moved officially, it still had a large presence within the Listerian Isles, and it's open condemnation of the actions of the Union of Labor (for continued support of the Solarionites of Rael) began to spark increased tensions across the isles.

These tensions were further spiked in 400 AFNE when the Second Dragon Caller's Guild of Everntrey vassalized Rael in 400 AFNE. The Dragon Caller's Guild was majorly Amunist due to a large number of nobility that were members of the Amunist Church, and as such the Amunists of the Isles and Helianen supported the effort. Simultaneously, the Union of Labor preferred the methodology and ideology of the Solarionites, and supported their independence with secret economical aid, not able to fully face the might of the Dragon Caller's Guild.

These tensions continued to shimmer through the century, but the URA (now governmentally controlled by the Union of Labor) continued other efforts. They established islands across the northern tenebris ocean with heavy investments around 460 AFNE to be able to cash in on the trade they believed to be inevitable between the newly founded Empire and the DCG. In 512 AFNE, the URA assisted with the Hog's acquisition of Vascitas in an attempt to bring peace to the region and they did the same in 518 with the Monin Marauders, in both cases primarily assisting with supply chains. In the Hierarchy War of 523 in Maora, the URA assisted with humanitarian efforts. In 546 AFNE, when Emperor Talus was assassinated, leaving famine and political unrest across the Empire, the URA provided much needed food deliveries to the millions left starving as the land itself turned acrid. In the 560s through 600 AFNE, the URA provided shipping and transportation for the growing nation of Corinthia.

### The Listerian Isles (603 AFNE-Present)

In 603 AFNE, the Raelian's rebelled against the yoke of the Second Dragon Caller's Guild during it's decline and imminent collapse and the URA supported them through military and economical methods. This action led to rioting from the Amunist factions of the Listerian Isles as the Church of Amun supported the continued control and colonization of the Solarionites by the Amunist DCG. The riots quickly turned to an open insurrection, with the civil war lasting until 612 AFNE, being placified by the retreating DCG forces (following their loss in Rael) under the leadership of DCG nobles. With the Church of Amun's support, much of the Union of Labor was tried for treason and the nobility of the former Dragon Caller's Guild took power within the Isles and established the Noble Council of the Isles.

The Union of Labor was forced into hiding while the Noble Council of the Isles took control, forming the Listerian Isles with the support of the Church of Amun. The nobles were experienced rulers from their time within the DCG and were able to take control of the situation with relative ease, however the economy and quality of life did struggle as they rolled back many of the social welfare programs instituted by the URA and increased taxes. For the following ~80 years, the nobles focused primarily on establishing themselves and ensuring their rule went uncontested.

In 700 AFNE, much of the nobility was involved with the re-establishment of the Dragon Caller's Guild and left to return to Everntrey, avoiding the civil war that happened after it's collapse, instead having been involved in it through the use of hired mercenaries. The remaining noble council frowned upon this abandonment, but gladly took the freed up power upon themselves. They joined the Concordant when it was formed, being one of the founding members. Also happening around this time, the Third Guardian Order was founded by Ishmael Sert, the Guardian of Binding, due to his belief that the Guardians would be more effective as a team. A resident of the Listerian Isles, he acquired land from the noble council with the promise of assisting the Isles with their needs and had the Guardian Hall constructed.

During the Twilight War, the Listerian Isles was a major battleground, their remote and separated locations being extremely vulnerable to attack while their high amunist population making it a major target. They lost much of their ground force military during the war, but their highly specialized and advanced naval technology did allow them to maintain much of their naval force. The attack on Amunism within the Isles did revitalize the study and practice of holy magic, leading to a greater amount of magic users of all varieties cropping up.

During the Void Incursion of Generath, the Listerian Isles were heavily involved in the efforts to force the Void back to the Forest, with much of the resources of the Noble Council being devoted to this. While the ground force military of the Isles was still low, the Noble Council supplemented this through the paid transport and arming of any members of the public that wished to aid. This offer was in large part taken up by many of the more militant sections of the Church of Amun that were on the Isles, including the Church of Atther. Many of these churches were butchered as they were woefully unprepared for the danger that they were signing up for, including the Church of Atther. Unlike many of these churches, the Church of Atther was the Church of Justinian Matteo Orisini, the Guardian of Light at the time. Driven mad by the death of his church, Justinian launched a terroristic attack on the nobility, killing many of the nobility before ceasing his rampage. The perpetrator was unknown until after his death, and fearing for their lives and the safety of the public, the nobles banned the practice of magic on Ava Primus to much disagreement, but the practice stuck for the following 6 years.

In 754 AFNE, much of the noble council supported the overthrowing of Katsu Tatsuo by Rhys Miaran due to his more noble upbringing and training.

During the Tenuemic War, the Listerian Isles lifted the ban on magic indefinitely. This was entirely due to the Listerian Isles being a primary target by the Tenuemic forces due to it's high amount of amunists and it's control of the sea. A vast amount of the population of the central Listerian Isles died, and the nation would have collapsed if not for the actions of the Union of Labor. While the Union was forced to go to ground when the nobles took over, they had not ceased to spread, with their influence slowly expanding under the oppression of the nobles. Following the end of the Tenuemic War, much of the government fled to Everntrey, leaving the residents of the Isles to pick up the pieces. The Union of Labor organized themselves and offered much needed reconstruction efforts and ensured that the people did not starve and die following the war.

Once the impacts of the war settled, the government returned and the Union was officially forced to disband, but it still remains within the populace, and many support it's eventually return after they watched the nobles abandon them, whispering of a rebellion. During the events of the Paradox, the Listerian Isles was deeply unsettled in its religious conviction, with many of the more devout followers of Amun fleeing to Helianen as they believed another attack targeting Amunists was inevitable.