Power Groups - Makhavireth

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Hundreds of power groups exist within Makhavireth, many originating from the last empire, and some even before the empire's founding. The power vacuum left by the empire permitted these groups to grow even larger than before, gaining resources and members as the peoples of the land looked for guidance and purpose, and the current political climate consists of incredible influential groups of every shade and purpose. Below are some of the most influential and well-known of the groups, many of which may be joined by those seeking fame and fourtain in the company of like-minded members.

## Bastions

The Bastions of Makhavireth are nine in number, and hold the largest amount of power and influence when considered collectively. The bastions are, however, diverse and separate, rarely allying and largely at war. Each bastion has its own power structure, government, and ideology, and each looks after itself before any other. The Kel'Korin Confederation is the most gregarious of the bastions, insofar as it is practical to be – The Kel'Korin Navy is largely mercenary, and so the Confederation must treat with the other bastions in order to maintain some semblance of power. When the bastions do decide to work together, every other faction within Makhavireth pales in comparison, and it is these rare occasions that see the largest changes towards recovery for the ruined land.

## Children of Valor

The Children of Valor is a knightly order devoted to Valorikan, the greater deity of courage, justice, and honor. The Children of Valor are almost entirely military, with a chapter house in six of the nine bastions housing around one thousand members from knights to servants. The commanders of each chapter report to the head of the order, who is located within Makhiren. The order has stood as a powerful faction since the early days of the last empire, with its roots stretching even further back to smaller monastic orders. The Children of Valor focus almost entirely upon fighting the Infernal forces that have invaded their world, and cleaning up the mess left behind. The order is friendly and closely connected with the Temple of Aejuna, an order of priests and healers in service to the goddess of the major moon.

## Children of Ruin

A newborn religious order, the Children of Ruin is mostly considered a collection of fractured cults by the world at large. The order is a mirror to the Children of Valor, worshipping instead the god largely considered responsible for the Infernal Invasion – Deminadrus, greater deity of corruption, hatred, and terror. No researcher thus far has learned the origin of the order, and due to its hostile nature it is unlikely any will live to do so. The order does not have any public chapter houses within the bastions themselves, and any who claim to belong to the order are normally executed on sight, but many fortresses, infernal cities, and corrupted lands hold some kind of base for the Children of Ruin. The order itself is responsible, both directly and indirectly, for many of the most devastating losses to the Infernal forces, from the greatest cities to the strongest fortifications, and even the deaths of some demigods. They are utterly anathema to the average person, and are considered the greatest traitors to mortal life in the known world.

## Temple of Aejuna

The Goddess of the Major Moon, Aejuna has been worshipped in some capacity by mortals since the earliest oral traditions. In modern day, Aejuna is considered a goddess of mercy, compassion, hope, and healing, and her temples are places of refuge and divination. The faction considered the "Temple of Aejuna" is really the collective efforts of all the places of worship to Aejuna, from the smallest shrine to the greatest temples, all working together to lead humanity out of the dark. Most every place of worship to Aejuna takes in the sick and the wounded, healing them both mind and body, and getting them back on their feet, regardless of whether they be soldier, farmer, or thief. The temples often take in members of other religious factions, but are particularly friendly with the Children of Valor, whose members often guard their sites of refuge and healing.

## Infernal Legions

Devils, demons, creatures of corruption, pain, and terror. The Infernal Legions invaded fifty three years prior to the present day, and have marched across every plain and mountain, sailed across every sea, and besieged every city and fortification of Makhavireth since. The legions have corrupted hundreds of miles of once verdant, rich lands, and cooked deserts into glass. Entire cities have fallen to the legions, turned into massive sites of Infernal power on the mortal plane, and permitting further access by the endless tide that is the military arm of the Infernal planes themselves. The mortals of Makhavireth have nearly lost hope as wave after wave of devil and demon have marched across their once beautiful land, and slaughtered, corrupted, or raised every last living thing they have crossed. It is the Infernal Legions that have committed genocide after genocide against the mortals of Makhavireth, and few now believe there is any force capable of beating back the legions arrayed against them.

## Kel'Korin Navy

The Kel'Korin Navy is perhaps the largest singular military force in Makhavireth, made up of hundreds of once private mercenary groups and professional armadas, coming from every port along every coastline of the three continents. The Kel'Korin Navy is funded through the Kel'Korin Confederation, which charges the other eight bastions for protection services, defending the bastions from the Infernal forces located along the oceans and the various island chains outside the scope of the landmass. The Navy works mostly autonomously from the Confederation, with each fleet reporting to their own structure of command, with the head of that structure only then reporting back to the leaders of the Confederation itself. If not for the Kel'Korin Navy, the Infernal Legions would blockade Makhavireth as a whole, and all communications with the outside world would depend almost entirely upon the few magical forces powerful enough to reach other lands. The Navy also solicits trade, protecting the trading ships and merchant vessels between the various coastal bastions, and allowing the bastions a way to interact without having to traverse the vast corrupted lands between them.

## Fragments of the Empire

Under the last empire, the hundreds, possibly thousands of royal and noble families of Makhavireth were united under the rule of the Teluna family, whose founding ancestor conquered the entirety of the three continents with his army of dragonriders. Over a thousand years after the founding of the last empire, and over three hundred years after its collapse, most of those families have claims to the Teluna line, but none currently share the name. Every eldest child of the Imperial Family died during or shortly after the collapse of the empire itself, leaving no true living heir. In the vacuum left by the collapse of the empire, dozens of kingdoms and smaller duchies rose up to take power, and in the present day even as the world crumbles around them in the wake of the Infernal Invasion the families continue to tear and claw at the rotten corpse of the last empire. These families hold standing armies, guilds, companies, and even bastions under their power, but none have been successful in claiming the title of Emperor.

## The Kofra

An ancient druidic sect, the Kofra trace their origins back to a now extinct race located on the desert island nation in the Godwave Sea, just north of the bastion of Senix. The race was killed off shortly after the Primordial War, but the race was known to adopt lost or orphaned people of any race, and the druidic sect of present day consists of the descendants of those adopted peoples. The Kofra as a race claimed creation at the hands of a nature primordial or deity, and were largely druidic in tradition, with those traditions being passed down to those they adopted. In present day, the druidic sect still holds lands on the island, but has spread across a large portion of Makhavireth, all the way to Rethiln, the farthest bastion from the island. The Kofra concern themselves exclusively with the natural order, leaving the bastions and other power groups to do as they please so long as they do no harm to the wild places of the world. Because of their nature-focused stance, the Kofra are closely associated with the elves, the ancient race contributing many members and resources to the sect.