The kingdom of Astos

## **Kingdom of Astos**

When the great beast of fire and death flew over the great cities of the world the terrain would quiver under the citizens' boots. Even the bravest knights and adventures would tremble before the great beast.

### The Draconic Expansion

As the great rider Artus flew around the world on the back of his great dragon Asteria. People would look to the sky and decide to follow him. People did not know why they decided to follow him; it was as if a spell was cast upon them. A fear of death in a blaze but there was also something else, a conflicting feeling of comfort like they were back in the arms of their mothers. They felt a feeling of indemnity when the dragon flew over. The rider  began to hold speeches around the world promising that everyone who followed him would be protected by him and his dragon as if they were his kind.

### The Peace Times

So people from all over the world started gathering at what is now the modern territory of the kingdom of Astos. They built extraordinary structures with architecture from every corner of the world. Their farms alone had a combined territory bigger than modern Xadia.

Nobles of great houses started to arrive in the nation as well. Some of the nobles brought up the idea of a council. Which Astos surprisingly agree on. After the council got instated the rider appointed 4 of the nobles to be his delegates. The small council consisted of the lord of Ravenfell, the lord of the Westfort, the lord of Oxside and the lord of  Basinvault. The four lords would be Artus’ main advisors throughout his rule. The nation would prosper after the formation of the council. Artus would eventually become married in this time as well; not a lot is known about the mysterious woman; she was never seen outside or without her husband and she always had something covering her face. Alot of the council members began to believe she was a demon sent by an evil god to try and influence the king with evil whispers. These rumors began to spread like wildfire and soon the entire country had heard a version of the rumor.

### The war in heaven

After 20 years of peace in the kingdom where the council had worked as a government while the king was out hunting or with his wife but a dark stormy night the queen was killed in her own chambers the person that discovered it was the king himself. She had been murder in such a brutal manner that it took the clerics eight days to restore her body back to recognizable manner. “Witch witch” was written on the wall with the blood of the queen. After the burial of the queen the king took off on his dragon to not be seen again for eight months. While the king was gone reports about communities being burned to nothing but ash and cinders with no survivors. Roughly nine towns were engulfed in flames with zero survivors all within the span of 7 days. People began to say it was the queen soul that had come back for revenge and that she was looking for whoever killed her, others believed that it was the king and his dragon that had gone on a rampage distraught by the death of his beloved. All were hypothesis until one day there was a survivor that told the tale of how his town had been burned to the ground by a great beast that came from the sky, he said that when the creature approached the ground would begin to tremble beneath him.

People now understood that it was the king who had gone mad. The council decided to call on the Knights of Ravenfell which was a small elite army consisting of the last dragon riders and the king's guard. They have now declared war on the king but they needed more time to gather resources and soldiers

Not even a week after the declaration of war the city l was attacked. The great dragon came from the sky as a blade, and cut the city in half with a burst of flames. The council did not have the army they wished for; only half of the dragon riders had shown up but now was the time.8

Two of the dragons barely made it off the ground before they were shot with a burst of flame.

The rest of the dragons took off to fight above the clouds. The fight lasted for about 30 minutes. The sky lit up with fire and the sky turned red. 5 more dragons would die before the fighter was over at last the great beast that once was the savior of so many people came crashing down the impact it had destroyed a large part of the city thousand died under the atack. But now one question was left who would be the new ruler.

### The fight for throne

After the war people were not interested in a new ruler.

So the council took full control over the country. In the absence of a king the council ruled. 100’ of years passed before the people of Astos were ready to elect a new king. After months of discussion the council finally agreed on electing the Winfield family as the new Astonian royale family. The Winfield family was a great choice as they were the owners of the port city Ravenfell. So they had a lot of leading experience in the bag. They were also selected as a royal family because of the huge impact they had on the economy of the nation. Because of their port city they had a huge impact on the trade of Astos. The port city Ravenfell  opened up a variety of trade possibilities to other countries as well.

#### Ruled with an iron fist

The new king ruled with an iron fist. He was harsh on the believers of the old king and his dragon. Because of the damage the old king had dealt to the nation it would take a lot of time to remake it. So still to this date Mainard the king of Astos has to deal with old believers. But the nation is prospering and the citizens are thriving and the king Mainard is doing a great job as king.

## Culture

The citizens of Astos are hard working people, who have to face different kinds of problems every day, such as: little to no food, plagues and just hard times. They work every day to put food on the table. But the hard work still doesn't stop them from having nice chats with their neighbors. They are nice and caring people who are willing to help anyone in their village. If someone in their village has trouble bringing enough food to the table. Most people would help them by giving away some of their own precious food. Most villages have very strong communities, but it is often every city for its own mindset. Some of the strong “Astonian” culture is: big gatherings in the village (with lots of food and drinks), big ceremonies (often held to worship the current leaders and especially the original leader Astos and his mighty dragon Asteria) and especially for some of the more “educated” men hunting is a fine sport, that they take very serious.

## Geography

The terrain of Astos is flat. With lots of rivers and close to the “Astonian sea”. It’s mostly made up of plains and big open green fields. There are no mountains in Astos, so the highest points are hills.There is some forest in Astos, but the forest is not as “close” as it once were. It’s been cut down from all of the village expansions over the years. Many of the rivers that run through the nation of Astos are filled to the brim with different kinds of fish species. In Astos you find lots of different animal species: birds, herbivores and fish. If you are lucky you might even spot a snake or a spider crawling through the woods in look of food.

## Architecture

The great builds in Astos are mostly made of different kinds of stone, planks and logs. The architecture looks a lot like old “european” castles and houses. But mostly it looks like old german and british architecture. Many of the small village houses can look identical because of its easy and strong foundation.If the family is poor, their house is mostly made out of wood, the richer the more stone.The “elite” has many different varieties of expensive wood, handmade quartz, and different kinds of metal. Some even have pure silver or even gold in their walls/roofs/floor. .

## Government

Astos is a kingdom and it has been it since the desolvation of the council. The current leadership is under the Winfield family and the throne has been passed down from Mainard who passed it down to his son Mattan, who then passed it down to his son (the current leader) Mainard Winfield (hotlink your character here). And when the day Mainard is no more, the throne will be passed down to his oldest son or nearest male family.