Catarina

The Rest, Capital of Catarina

Catarina, is a kingdom on the Western Continent of Gorlewynn, on the Western Peninsular of the mainland.

## Lore

### **History of Catarina**

A land known for is jovial features, festivities and honourable knights, Catarina is a beautiful location in an otherwise dark and depressing world.

Founded by Aldricius following the War of Souls, Catarina stands proud for never being affected by the Undead Curse. Surrounded by its Great Wall and featuring some of the greatest cities in the World, it became a jewel of the world, gaining visitors from several nations to come and enjoy the festivities.

Catarina is home to one of the few surviving noble houses following the War of Souls, with them being the House of Sieg, or more commonly known as the Sieg Knights. The name of Sieg has been passed down through the generations, dating all the way back to the first Sieg Knight, being Sieghart.

A great city was built on the western coast of the land, originally billed as 'The Rest'. But Aldricius I made it so that the city would be named after the current king on the throne and as such adopted a revolving name. So its first incarnation was Aldricius' Rest. Famous for being built completely of white quartz and marble, it serves as the epicenter for festivals and nightlife as well as the ruling capital of Catarina.

Several other towns and villages are settled across the lands of Catarina, with the three biggest being Amberfall, Tearstone and Ironwüdd each with their own unique identities:

* Ironwüdd was the first to be founded among these three and was named after the Ironwüdd Grove, a forest with special trees that were rich with iron veins inside them and was processed into Bulwark Steel, used to create the special armours for both the common and Sieg knights (of which it is specially shaped into the famous Sieg Knight armour).
* Amberfall was founded on its silver mines which was subsequently mined and used in the creation of the Catarinian swords. It also contributed as a main supply to the majority of the worlds Silver. Silver was also used as a currency after being minted in the capital into Silver Coins which would be used until the present (since Catarina never used souls as a currency due to their nature). Allfather Lloyd also created his own currency bearing his image using Catarinian silver.
* Tearstone was settled and named after its gemstone mines in the area. The gems that were mined there were of a certain magic quality, but more famously were in the shape of tears when they were mined hence the name. The tearstone gems were then fashioned into certain jewellery, but mostly into magical rings which were then subsequently used by the Knights of Catarina.

Catarina is a unique nation, having never suffered from the undead curse which people often tried to set refuge in. Native Catarinians were never branded with the Darksign and so never reanimated when they died. Those branded with the Darksign effectively made them immortal and could live forever including being reanimated if they do die. As a result of this most Catarinians would live for around 130-160 years on average.

### **The Great Siege of Catarina**

When Vendrick, the King of Drangleic, upon his visit in 211FY stole a sacred item and captured several Giants from the Island of the Giants: Varangia. This angered the Giants, leading to one of them declaring themselves as Grand Sovereign of all Giants, becoming their leader and subsequently declared war against the world of all Humans.

The Giants initial invasion of the Continent of Gorlewynn was Catarina (in 217FY), with an initial force landing on the beaches to the North of The Rest. Reports of the landing parties and their ships were a sight to behold. The knights state that their ships were bigger than entire villages and towns and thousands of these ships could be seen off shore, seemingly endless. The Great Wall around the lands proved to be an effective tool for this invasion, almost like Aldricius foresaw these events transpiring.

The Giants soon began to march on the Capital, with the landing parties destroying the docks and ships already at the bay as countless legions of Giants invaded the shores. The war drums on the ships matched with the steps of the giants was rumoured to be heard all around Catarina including the far eastern town of Ironwüdd, leading to this phenomenon being called the 'March of Giants'. The defense of the City is lead by the leader of the Sieg knights Siegvald as well as the King of Catarina Aldricius II, though Siegvald perished early on in the war in 217FY.

The Giants of Varangia, now vicious and violent, are somewhat surprised at the power of the Catarinians and had severely underestimated them. Never had they thought a human civilisation be as noble and powerful as them, as overtime the Siege turned into a strong war of attrition, but the Giants made their mark. The Sieg Knights were near annihilated by the Giants, who had fought tirelessly, all but one of their Knights were killed. The final Sieg Knight called Siegfried, who had become leader following the death of Siegvald (and a quick ascension tournament was held) was said to become filled with rage after the death of his father Sieglinus, which as a Sieg knight was almost unheard of. With this rage he was said to have drawn upon the power of the Storm Ruler, unleashing a devastating attack that destroyed tens of entire units of Giants, with the shockwave effect toppling many of their ships, killing those onboard.

Grand Sovereign Gormoth apparently witnessed Siegfrieds attack first hand, narrowly escaping the shockwave himself. Gormoth then supposedly, under a white flag, wished to speak to Siegfried. The subsequent meeting between Gormoth and Siegfried was witnessed as an iconic moment in the war; A Giant sitting down with a Human. It was said that Gormoth commended Siegfried for his actions in the war, giving tremendous respect to the Humans as a whole and realised that the war on Gorlewynn was unnecessary and that they would retreat to fight their true enemy; King Vendrick. He also issued a peaceful solution to the War, where he would let any Giants wishing to stay on the continent could do so, which many took up. Aldricius II afterwards declared that the Giants were no longer enemies and that the Catarinians would uphold this vow, with which Siegfried agreed. The Giants then departed for the Eastern Continent of Dwyrain with their entire force, to bring Drangleic to its knees.