Eishen Theocracy

Eishen is not as much a nation, but a religious colony. Its members are drawn from human women across the world each somehow drawn to these frozen rocky islands. When they get close enough, Eisha sends the queen a vision and one or more of the Skyries are sent to retrieve the new converts. The view of great icy dragons descended from the cloudy sky has sent more than one woman scurrying, but each are caught up and brought to the island for sanctuary and learning.

• Capitol Suborovka
• Official Languages(s) Dakarian
• Regional Languages(s) various dialects
• Religion Eishen
• Demonym Evenkis
• Government Constitutional Republic

  • Queen Sigfreda
• Area xxxk sq. km
• Population xx million
• Currency None

The worship of the goddess-dragon Eisha was always a part of the people of the north. Although her worship was strongest among the women of the most isolated villages, many magicians also paid homage to her strength. Over the years her worship was slowly overshadowed by the worship of the gods Byrne, Vayne, and Karash. Her vissage was changed by those who left the old ways for the new gods into Mara, the wife of Byrne. After that more people turned their backs on Eisha.

Still, many clung to the old ways, seeing the new gods for the usurpers the were. While it never broke into a religious war, it was only a matter of time before the last true followers of Eisha were pushed out of the villages. These problems all bubbled over the year the daconians left their homelands and journeyed south in search of a promised land. Many of the people felt betrayed by those that spoke about leaving their homeland and being led by those men that had seen a vision from the gods.

On a cold winter's night, Eisha sent her followers a vision of a place she had set aside where they could continue to worship and live their lives free from the chains of the gods. Over one thousand women left Daconian villages with only food and their winter clothes and ventured into the night. Before they reached the eastern shore of the White Sea less than eight-hundred remained, but they were strongest and most dedicated of Eisha's followers. The last of their weakness had been burned out of them by the icy winds.

When these women reached the shoreline Eisha raised a bridge of ice that spanned to a series of rocky islands far into the sea. These island would be the place where the sisters_of_eisha would be reborn from those women who come freely to the promised land. They would continue to worship the dragons, elder gods, and spirits of the land far from the corrupting influence of the “new”; gods and their dwarven allies.

The Evenki islands are a series of volcanic rock islands in the White Sea off the north-northeast coast of the Miran is where the Eishen live. The small rock islands are devoid of just about any plant and only the hardiest animal life. There are few places in the world that are as barren and lifeless as these island. Still, on the peaks and along the shore, the people of Eishen make their home.

The islands would be covered with ice and snow permanently except for the large volcanic vents that pockmark the surface. These vents keep the temperatures within the volcanic tunnels that twist through the islands at livable temperatures.

This is the largest island and is where the Queen of Eishen has her stone fortress. Carved out of the rock of the highest peak, this fortress is impervious to attack from both above and below. With a sleeping bowl large enough for hundreds of Skyries it is considered the greatest honor for any rider to be moved under the Queen's personal command. While the environment is harsh on all of the islands, those on Suborovka have is easier than the rest as the Queen always gets a share of the bounty from every raid.

This island is the farthest north and least civilized of the strongholds. Most of the women deemed as problems get sent to Marfin Brod to settle their problems. This is not considered banishment or even imprisonment, the women here are still part of the sisterhood. It is simply the place where even the most difficult and headstrong women can find the challenges they need to unleash their anger.

The most eastern island of the Evenki islands the central lake of this island is always cold enough to freeze solid, but never has even the smallest ice on its surface. There is always a fog over the entire surface, which is only disturbed by the occasionally wind that whips through the totems built around the shore. Each stone totem has the head of a dragon and delicate silk wings that open wide to shield the lake from the harshest winds. The lake is the center of the Eisha religion as each young woman is fully submerged beneath the surface and those strong enough to be called a sister will rise from the depths transformed.

Like the dragons they can command, these women rule by survival of the fittest. Each spring all of the women seeking to challenge the Queen will fight each other until only one still stands. While most of the women are do not give into their battle-fury so much they will fight to the death, an occasional death is not considered a bad omen. Instead it generally leaves the victor appearing as a stronger Queen.

The Queen rules over all of the islands and serves as the direct mouthpiece of Eisha. She is responsible for seeing that there are enough raids and battles to keep her warriors well-trained and prepared for the coming battle. Often the Queen will participate in battle to keep her own skills strong or a more capable lesser may challenge her position.

Each of the islands is a stronghold in its own right and while all pay homage to the queen, each stronghold is also ruled by a Dayre. The Dayre is responsible for the daily life of those women and live in her stronghold. If the Queen is displeased with any stronghold it is the Darye that must pay the price. As with the Queen, the Dayre only holds her position through the strength of her and her dragon mount. No woman not given a dragon mount can rise to the position of Dayre.

Main Article: Skyries

This is the title used for those warriors who have gained control of a dragon. These are the warriors and the only women who can challenge the queen for ruler ship. A strongholds strength is measured by the strength of its warriors, which is believed to be a reflection of its Queen.

The Draga are those women that emerged from the purifying pool not with a dragon mount, but infused with the pure power of Eisha. These women live among, but still apart, from the rest of the sisters as they look at the visions of Eisha and interpret them for the good of all.

The Eishens have no real significant contact with their neighbors, except for raids and the occasional war. The day will come when Eisha calls forth her warriors to decend upon the outsiders and destroy them utterly, but until that time her warriors gather their strength and cull the weak from their own ranks.

See Also: Goth

These people are the mortal enemies of Eisha. They stop her children from crossing the sea and when they finally gain a foothold on the mainland they always arrive to attack and destroy all they can reach. There is no honor in fighting the Goth, for they are religious fanatics that delight only in seeing the pain and suffering of their enemies. With hearts forged in the deepest pits and fighting in a near beserk stage, they have thrown their own bodies unto the weapons of their enemies so that another Goth could kill.

See Also: Vykir

More primitive that the Goth, but in many ways they are far more dangerous. While the Goth are driven by their single-minded devotion and cultural hatred of the Eishen, the Vykir are dangerous because they have been battle-hardened by Basu. It was Basu that taught them the skill of fire and the secret of steel and it is Basu that is forging them into single weapon to slay Eisha's sisters.

See Also: Blackblood

It was the ancestors of the Blackblood that originally drove the first sisters from the Iron Mountains. At one time the sisters of Eisha held its frozen peaks and tended herds in its ample valleys. Then the Blackfist clan moved deeper into the mountains, raiding the Eishen herds for food. As they multiplied and made pacts with the Trolls and Giants already living there and together they drove the Eishen and their dragons from even the highest peaks.

The Eishen have never forgotten the humiliations of the war as the orc clans ravaged the women they captured then drove them into the frozen north. Many of the women on the island still carry within their blood the taint of the orcs. Rather and drive these women from their lands, they instead stand as constant reminder of their enemies. When the horn is blown for the final battle the Eishen will return to the Iron Mountains and its fertile valleys and war upon the Blackblood until the rivers run as thick as tar with the blood of their enemies.

See Also: Carthia

Home of some of the best warriors for the Eishen to hone their battle skills against. They are not fanatics willing to die for their cause or a weapon specifically forged by the gods to destroy them. Instead, they are an honorable people with a strong history to battle. Above all other people the sisterhood will both ask and give quarter in battle against the carthins. Prisoners are traditionally exchanged for their worth in goods, which as led to complicated but valuable trade route.

See Also: Stoneheart Hold

The dwarves represent everything that the Sisters of Eisha stand against. It was the dwarves that turned the Daconians against the worship of the spirits and to the worship of gods far into the heavens. They brought about the creation of marriage and ownership. This drove a wedge between the people and the spirits of the land. Eventually the Daconians even turned their backs upon the magicians that had given up their peaceful existence to protect the people from the dark spirits. There is a very special hatred that any Sister of Eisha holds in her heart for any dwarf.

Over half of the population of these islands are formed into some type of military unit. Even those women who preform work as laborers or craftsmen serve their time in the militia that is responsible for the last defense of the islands should any outsider attack.

Main Article: Skyries

The dragon riders represent the elite fighting order inside the sisterhood. They train constantly in the use of all weapons, especially those that can be used while astride their dragons. Although their numbers are small with their powerful dragons and their own ferocity and dedication, just a few are easily strong enough to overpower most armed villages. Still, every loss hurts the sisterhood because it takes years after a woman emerges from the lake with the dragon-mark before she even bonds with her mount - then even longer before she can fight astride it.

Those that can use magic are always brought on the raids. They are expected to master a few weapons in addition to their mystical attacks. In addition, there are those skilled in healing and defensive arts that stay with and protect the dragons from any attacking magicians. It is very rare for the most powerful magicians to also be Skyries, so most train enough with the dragons to ride and cast from the saddle. However, far more common is them being carried into battle and dropped off to fight on the ground with only enough warriors to defend them from any attackers.

The islands provide few natural resources as they are little more than wind-swept icy rocks in the middle of the White Sea. Aside from fish and a few winter birds there is almost no natural life found on the surface of the islands. In addition, the wishes of Eisha is that all of the sisters will survive together or die together in this harsh place. With no desire to simply lie down and freeze to death, the sisterhood has worked to make their land survivable.

To make due with the resources they had on hand they have advanced their knowledge of using various materials found in the frigid waters and the few ores they can work in the tunnels found on the island. They supplement their supplies with raids to the mainland, with emphasis on gathering metals, cloths, and various wood products. Finally, they supplement their stores with both the magic drawn from Eisha and the more traditional method learned from the mainland. Many of the sisters have become quite specialized in dealing with ice, water, and the crystals they have in abundance.

All of this is stored in the caves underneath each of the strongholds. As the sisters need something they get it from the caves and when they have excess they put stuff into the caves. With the exception of those rare things earned or given in recognition, all property is considered communal to shared by all sisters equally.

These dragon-women live on most of the volcanic Evenki Islands. It is an austere and difficult life for anybody, but through the blessing of Eisha these women are broken and reshaped into a weapon that will cast the world into darkness.

These lands are not kind to those who have passed their prime years of their life. Even during the summer there is still snow and ice covering much of the islands. These women work in the nursery or infirmary where the temperatures are warmer. When she can no longer serve in this limited capacity she goes to the shoreline and awaits the breath of Eisha to carry her spirit home.

Normally it would be expected that on an series of island with only women dedicated to religious study and war there would be no children; however that is not true in this case. Almost 15% of the total population of the islands are children born of the sisters of Eisha. Women seeking to give everything to their goddess undertake a special ceremony that will plant the seed of the goddess inside their womb. This baby will always be female and always be gifted with a dragon upon their ceremony.

The number of children on the island would be greater except that more than 25% of all children born will not survive their first year. Life on these rocky islands is demanding and harsh, any child that is not strong of both body and mind will be abandoned to their fate. The woman who gave birth to that child will instead use her milk to feed a child that is a true child of Eisha.

The main language of Eishen is and older dialect of Dakarian.

The sisters of Eishen know that there are other gods that walk the earth and seek to dominate everything in their name. However, their goddess has proclaimed that with their strength she will be able to overcome these dark gods and spread her will to the corners of the world. The worship of Eisha is strong and unwavering and covers every aspect of a these women's lives. At any moment Eisha may send a vision to one of the sisters summoning them to a task that they must undertake and succeed - there is no room for failure.

There are two varieties of magic used by the sisters of Eisha. The first and most common is the magic as taught to their ancestors by the Magi. This magic is gained from scrolls taken in raids and from those women that were accomplished magicians before they received the calling. While most of the women studying this magic seek only the spells of war, divination and illusion are well-known to those looking for a stronger edge in battle. So driven is their desire to defeat all enemies that they have researched spells of war unknown to the rest of the world.

The second magic is that only taught to the sacred inner circle of Eisha. This is the magic of the ice and tundra, the magic of dragons and the eternal darkness. It is this magic that flows directly from the blood of Eisha to her most loyal and powerful worshipers. This is not to be confused with those most holy worshipers that call down the words of Eisha directly, this is still magic, just being drawn from a different source.

The stronghold is the centerpiece of life on each of the islands. Each stronghold not only provides housing for most of the women on the island, but serves as a giant shrine to Eisha. Inside, there will be many statues to her, each of her children, and many of the spirits that inhabit the world of ice and snow. The stronghold is shaped in the form of a giant stone dragon with the head rising among the rest of the body.

The stronghold is always built from the lowest caves to the manor houses located at the peaks. As a woman moves up within the ranks of the sisterhood she will move from the simple cells near the caves to the larger rooms up the mountain. While it is true that any sister is free to visit any place in the stronghold, most tend to visit only those areas near where their rooms are located.

This is the name collectively given the to area of the stronghold that is built along the dragon's back. It is here that the Skyries live and tend their dragon mounts. Each dragon has a large cave carved into the side of the cliff the the dragon snakes along, while the sisters have rooms on the platforms formed by the spines along the body. Aside from the Queen's chamber these rooms tend to be the most opulent with many furnished from the various spoils of their raids.

Inside of its open mouth is the sacrificial alter, which only the Queen and Draga are allowed to visit. Anyone else entering this sacred ground will be utterly destroyed by the frozen breath of Eisha. The alter itself is in the shape of a sleeping dragon and the room has hundreds of niches filled with idols of the many spirits that inhabit the north.

When a new queen is declared she will enter the shrine with the eldest Draga in attendance. Over the next week she will reaffirm her commitment to lead the Sisterhood and defend it against all enemies. If she falters in her strength during this week her body will be frozen solid - a permanent testament to those that did not have the strength to hold the position of Queen.

These caves are carved into the heart of the mountain and only accessible from the simple cells of the new initiates. The caves serve as storage areas for the bounty brought back from raids and cold storage for their wines and foodstuffs. Under the watchful eye of the Dra-sister the initiates tend to the caves and bring anything in or out as needed - or even expand the caves when the current rooms become filled. It is hard and labor-intensive work, but all within the stronghold must work to maintain the strength of the stronghold for the Sisterhood is only as strong as its weakest link.