Antiveille

Illustrated by Averie

Antiveille is dotted with heavily forested sections, broken up by many hills and valleys spread throughout. The lands of Antiveille, like all of those on the continent, are ideal for farmland. They experience enough rain to fill lakes and runoff from the mountains in massive, fast-flowing rivers down toward the seas. Massive divides are traversable only bridges built before the Breaking, or with determination, fearlessness, skill, and rope in spades. Most of its cities are built with trade in mind, and are gilded in gold and precious gems.

Yet, despite the outward beauty of the land and civilization built upon it, Antiveille is a nation afflicted with war and the diseases such things tend to carry. The border it shares with Rousade has been dug into with trenches, and those are nearly filled with the unburnt dead.

Largely human, Antiveille is also notable for its sizable halfling and gnome populations. Altogether, the skin color seen most often in Antiveille is much lighter than throughout most of the rest of the world. Blue, green, and grey eyes are not uncommon, nor is red or blond hair.

## Culture

The holy land of Antiveille is often seen as the religious center of the world of Afereth. Such a reputation is not without merit -- the finest and greatest holy warriors are ethnically Antiveillan. They celebrate more holy holidays than any other culture in the world, with what seems to be a celebration for every day of the year. This is, of course, a grand over-exaggeration, but to foreigners traveling there, it does often seem this must be the case. The greatest virtues of Antiveille is piety, duty, and fidelity. Of course, none of these are practiced by those in power, but they are quite pleasant as an idea.

Antiveille is not only known for holy warriors, however, it is also known for its grand structure of healers: clerics and oracles, priests and paladins, the golden touch of various gods permeates the land and can be felt in nearly every aspect of its cultural makeup. Because ideals are valued so highly, their application with regard to individuals can be lacking, at times. The vision of a priest delivering a sermon on generosity while a flea-ridden family begs for scraps outside a local noble's home is quite common.

Yet despite these failings, Antiveille is a power with which to be reckoned. One of the few cultures that weathered the Breaking, its national memory and identity reaches back millennia. This is key to understand the grand traditions that this nation practices without pause. There is a reason, after all, that the Academy's most powerful base is rumored to be tucked away in their white mountains...

## Political Landscape

The once-powerful Antiveillan Empire has been in decline for centuries. Though, considering where it started, this is not to say that they are, in any way, weak. Ruled by a monarch who is selected by the gods in a years-long process, this theocracy is one that relies on the idea that its leadership is answerable only to a higher power, never a lower one.

Some might claim that the only reason this nation has not collapsed inward upon itself is its strict adherence to tradition, and that, despite questionable choices from its leadership in the past, they have never struggled to feed their people. Thanks to healthy farmlands and major exports of staple ingredients like wheat and wine, as well as halfling farmers who know how to get the most out of their land, Antiveille is the world's largest producer of raw food.

## Magical Attunement

Abjuration, conjuration. Most of their spells take the form of radiant magic.