Siuverland

In the west another Demonic Breach lays, likely one belonging to a demon of Wrath or possibly greed. It is the oldest confirmed demon breach and has been closing up for years, as it started closing up humans colonized the island and gave birth to the Tieflings, but at the height of it's pre-collapse power the Azan Empire launched a great crussade expelling the tieflings from the island and establishing a holy order to guard the gate. Tieflings now only survive as refugees among the hobbits, on the other hand Siuerland around the breach stands as the last remaining bastion of the old Azan faith before the great prophet's arrival. They blame the faith of the great prophet for the fall of the Empire and see themselves as it's true heir, though their population is dwindling... 2 in 3 born children are born as tieflings and executed leaving the island underpoppulated and dying.

## History

Siuverland became a province of the Azan/Dragon Empire early on, but has long been plagued by problems, and is generally regarded as cursed.

Many of its problems are believed to have been in some way associated with Althazar, the Fallen Dragon, who was cast down by Bronzar in mythological times, and has since then become a powerful demon lord associated with wrath and greed.

The so called Ancestral Breach has existed as far back as humans can remember, and according to experts on the subject, was gradually closing for millennia and was generally considered dormant. However, it over time became apparent that some people were using the breach somehow to contact Althazar. Cults sprung up, demons were summoned, strange calamities occurred, wars and rebellions happened in which Althazar’s involvement was suspected, etc. Given the Old Azan Faith’s strong dislike for demonic creatures, witch-hunts and persecutions became a common occurrence on the island.

Despite these efforts however, the percentage of the population with demonic heritage gradually increased, and the discrimination these individuals faced made them natural adherents to Althazar’s cults. 1000 years ago, the Dragon/Azan Empire took the highly unusual and controversial step of culling the entire demon tiefling population of the island, which triggered revolt even among the pure strain humans, and allowed the Cult of Althazar to seize control of the island and try to reopen the Ancestral Breach, only to lose the island following an extremely bloody invasion and cull.

With much of the island’s population dead or fled into exile, the Patriarchs of the Old Azan Faith resettled it with members of a wide range of devout (if not fanatical) religious organizations, in hopes they would prevent anyone from reopening the breach. Before long, Siuverland is seen as the religious capital of the Empire.

Not long after their success in Siuverland, the Azan/Dragon Empire goes into decline following the loss of Changrila, Scimitaria, and other regions. Cooperation between religious authorities and the nobility reach an all time high as many of the old noble families start relying on the Faith to provide moral backing to the increases on rent and taxes many nobles enacted in order to make up for loss profit streams that once came in from the now lost territories.

Having dragon heritage is seen as increasingly important as it was seen as a sign of divine heritage and a provided a major boast to an individual’s moral authority. This provides the Cult of Althazar with a new “in” to infiltrate Azan society. His followers are granted the ability to infuse newborns with a fraction of Althazar’s dragon heritage, giving them the all important dragonic appearance, but also tainting them with some demonic heritage as well.

Eventually this tainted bloodline becomes so common that many folk with no knowledge of Althazar have it, particularly in Siuverland. Unfortunately for them, Althazar’s ruse is discovered roughly 900 years ago, and a second purge of the demon tieflings occurs, again slaying or driving out much of Siuverland’s population.

This purge is even more unpopular than the first, and is one of the motivations to form the New Azan Faith, which comes into being not long afterwards.

The main holy orders which carried out the purge are outraged at the loss of moral authority and consolidate their forces in Siuverland and vow to maintain the ethics of their orders rather than adopt the more nuanced moral code of the New Faith. This leads to a brief war that only causes the holy orders to become even more extreme in their beliefs.

For the past 900 years since rebelling, Siuverland has been a much hated pariah state, infamous for their purges against those with demonic bloodlines. But the extent of these bloodlines was far wider than once thought, and with each generation more and more children are born with demonic features and are purged. Some say the Cult of Althazar has found a way to taint babies while they are still in the womb, ensuring the child would be purged no matter how confident the parents are of their heritage.

In recent times, nearly 2 in 3 children are born with demonic features, and much of the island’s population has fled into exile, leaving just a small fringe of fanatics to carry out their increasingly futile purges.

## Government

The ruler of Siuverland is known as the Patriarch. In other regions (or former regions) of the Azan Empire, these individuals only exercise moral, not secular power, but in Siuverland, the Patriarch completely controls both.

The mix of hard line religious orders that went into exile in Siuverland following the creation of the New Azan Faith gradually mixed and mingled until they became one monolithic entity simply known as “The Order”, with a rigid hierarchy running all the way from laymen laborers to the Patriarch himself.

## Economy

Although its lands are fertile, the population is much lower than it once was, as a result, many farms and whole towns and villages are now empty and overgrown, and every remaining community feels partially abandoned.

There are still enough common folk left for the island to be self-sufficient in terms of food production and basic manufacturing. For higher end goods, The Order barters using the treasures it accumulated during better times.

## Foreign Relations

No one really likes Siuverland, or interacts with them more than they have to. Their child killing tendencies have given them a dark reputation in the west even worse than Bumi and its fanatical cult, or Moreelse and its drugs.

Azan is strangely reluctant to try to retake the island, though they have spoken of it for centuries. Some say the tiefling purge does serve some sort of purpose in keeping the Ancestral Breach closed, so certain secretive parties within Azan’s government derail any talk of an invasion. Further supporting this theory is that members of the Ancient Order of Most Practical Wizards, and the Astromancers have occasionally been seen in Siuverland for unknown reasons.

Other foreigners are occasionally seen in Siuverland, most of them are converts, mercenaries, or shady merchants, but some are also likely agents and spies for nearby governments, cults, and criminal organizations.

## Geography

The Siuverland Islands are fairly flat, and possess a temperate climate. Once upon a time, the islands were almost entirely settled, but now much of the land has gone back to nature.

Occasionally strange, glowing cracks in the ground form in remote areas, a sure sign the Ancestral Breach is becoming increasingly active.

## Demographics

### Humans

Humans make up most of the population. Aside from the religious fanaticism, they are ethnically and culturally similar to humans living on the northern edge of the Azan Empire.

### Dragon Tieflings

There are still a few dragon tieflings on the island, though they are inevitably high ranking members of The Order, and rarely interact with lower ranking members they aren’t familiar with and who could mistake them for demon dragon tieflings.

### Demon Dragon Tieflings

Created by Althazar when he tainted the bloodlines of followers via unknown means nearly a millennia ago, they resemble dragon tieflings, but The Order has ways of distinguishing between the two, and hunts them relentlessly.

### Miscellaneous

Many non-humans mistakenly believe The Order is genocidal, or at least bigoted, towards non-humans, so most of the few foreigners who visit are human. Among the indigenous population, there are also a handful of dwarves and hobbits that have been there for generations.

## Religion

The Order is a religious organization built around an extremist interpretation of the Old Azan Faith, who in particular see it as their responsibility to stamp out the followers of Althazzar, and the demon dragon tieflings. It traces its ancestry back to several religious orders sent to purge and repopulate Siuverland over a millennia ago.

To the dismay of followers of the New Faith, and even less radical members of the Old Faith, some of the priests of The Order still retain their divine spellcasting abilities, suggesting their actions are still more or less in line with Bronzar’s expectations.

The Cult of Althazzar is still rumored to be active on the island, operating in secret. This close to the Ancestral Breach, the powers potentially available to those who chose to follow Althazzar are strong.

## Military

The Order has militant branches meant to track down followers of Althazzar and demon dragon tieflings, but also doubles as law enforcement and a defensive army. Weaponry and training is pretty similar to other human nations in the area, though the dark robes are pretty distinct.

Siuverland has some divine and arcane spellcasters, but none who are particularly impressive.