![[Elmany.jpg | 400]] *Map of Elmany showing the two countries that it divided into: [[Ciselmany|Ciselmany]] in the North and [[Transelmany|Transelmany]] in the South* ## Overview --- Elmany is the oldest continuously inhabited society on [[Kedavaara]]. It can trace its history back to the year 0 AL (Anno Lumens, the year Lumen appears) when the first Saint, Lumen, is said to have been visited by the Lord of Light, and bestowed the power of Lumination, a connection to the flux that manifests as the ability to generate, refract and emit light waves and particles. ## History --- Lumen was a nomad about whom little is known, except that he created the [[Royal Elman Church|Church of Light]] and gained numerous followers. His visitation is said to have occurred at the peak of the Elman Mountains, and as such it is sacred ground for Elmans. Lumens made a pilgrimage from the peak, following the River Elin down until he arrived at an inland lake. He found a small village close by, and joined them. He amazed them with his miraculous Lumination, and this village became his first followers. Lumen organized and grew the village, and it would eventually become the city of Øfa. Lumen's Church was not a kingdom, and he was not a King. Øfa practiced collective leadership, and were able to subsist on agriculture and fishing. As time passed, the descendants of Lumen and his followers would come to adopt the practices of their neighbors in order to defend themselves from aggression, creating armies and commodifying land and the crops that were grown on it in order to participate in regional trade (to afford those armies). By 140 AL, the North fell into regional war. It would last for twelve years until Rodrick, the king of a city called Haal, was able to defeat the other armies and bring them under his charge. When Rodrick's army arrived at Øfa, they surrendered and were incorporated into his new kingdom. Lumen was long dead by this point, but his descendants had all inherited his Lumination. One of them was Amina, who would fall in love with Rodrick. He would take her back to the capital of his new Kingdom, Haal, and marry her there. As Queen, Amina would make the Church of Light the seat of Rodrick's power, and convert the majority of the Kingdom's subjects to what became known as Lumenity. Their son Kevin would inherit the same powers as Amina, but an especially powerful variation of it. When Rodrick died in 170 AL, Kevin would become King. He would begin the campaign to expand the Kingdom of Elmany, as it was now called, southwards from the Elman Mountains down to the Kylan Ocean. It would take him twenty years, but in 230 AL he succeeded in conquering the entirety of North and South Elmany, with the exception of [[The Green|the Green]]: a dense jungle inhabited by followers of an ancient spiritual religion also known as the Green. They wielded a connection to the flux that manifested as the ability to control plant life, and natural toxins. Rodrick tried to invade the Green twice in 232 and 233 AL, but his expeditionary forces were completely destroyed both times. In spite of this, Rodrick had more soldiers, and the ability to dam the Voromir River that was vital to the Green's sustenance. In 236 AL they agreed to become vassals of Elmany, paying tributes and relinquishing control of their borders in exchange for Elmany promising not to dam the river. At this point Elmany had become by far the largest country on the continent, and was able to develop rapidly thanks to its abundance of both natural resources and arable farmland. It was also able to achieve a prolonged period of peace thanks to its natural, highly defensible borders. Other countries would eventually achieve unity and stability, but Elmany was almost two centuries early. By 640 AL, Elmany under King William had entered into an advanced stage of the societal decay that Hagios of the West Plateau had written about centuries earlier. The monarchy was wasteful and the country had experienced extremely uneven development, as future monarchs after Rodrick had neglected the even-handed approach he brought to policy, focusing on wealth accumulation and extravagance in the capital at the expense of the rest of the country, especially South Elmany. The Green at this point were a notable exception, being de facto independent once again, as the agreement allowing Elman Royal Deacons to be stationed within their territory had been allowed to expire a century ago because Elmany did not bother to enforce it. Their new leader Qa'ri loathed the monarchy, but was keen on avoiding an armed confrontation with the Kingdom. The rest of South Elmany was badly mismanaged, and rife with corruption. Royal authority in the region was weak, and several parts had fallen under the control of wealthy nobles, such as the Lake Lords in the southwestern Riverlands province. This situation was clear even to members of the Royal Elman Church, as Lumen's once humble following was now known. The King ruled Elmany in the Church's name, and it employed a vast network of agents known as disciples, who served as the country's primary security apparatus. The elite force was maintained by conscripting youths with powerful connections to the flux, varied in rank from Disciple at the bottom to Archbishop at the top, and the most powerful flux users in the Church were Bishops or higher. However, its large size meant that it was very prone to factionalism and subversion, with numerous scandals relating to both corruption and attempted treason. Accountability was hard to come by, and the people of Elmany were often the victims of brutal repressions and abuses of authority at their hands. The Royal Deacons were a special company of disciples in the Church who had special administrative authority, serving as vassals for the King. The majority of territories outside the capital province were governed by Royal Deacons, who commanded their own detachments of Church disciples.