SKQ - LORE AND IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

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ANSÀRRA
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“M'illumino d'immenso.”

-- Giuseppe Ungaretti, 'Mattina', 1917

The old world of Kiengir rule and wonders disappeared in a single day of baleful fire which permanently scarred the earth and the heavens, giving birth to the wasteland of the Kìtum, to the north, and searing the skies with the planetary ring which has shone silver since.

In the chaos and destruction that followed, during the dark age of lawless murdering, the figure of Ansàrra rose to carry hope for a new future. She gathered many of the survivors and guided them to laws kept safe, the lands of Madua. From the encroaching mountains through the fertile plains to the sea, Madua is the most beautiful of the countries that survived the Epochalypse.

It's a land of plenty, where people live to a ripe age unburdened by the weariness of old age and illness. It is comprised of a series of smalls cities and towns, but most of it is a rural, theocratic society led by powerful clans.

Bartering is prohibited and usury is punished with torment. A limited trade with merchants from other countries is allowed, but the trading partners must complete all deals on ships and are never allowed to set foot on the hallowed shores of Madua.

The Knights of Ansàrra comprise the elite military defensive force of Ansàrra's Dominion, with many elite Orders, above all that of Saint Bragia Lacresta.

Ansàrra bestows amazing blessings upon Her devotees, called Sanctions. As legends say, She used to walk amongst the people, but since the murder of Bragia Lacresta, She has spent all to herself in her floating palace of blindglass, wandering the skies of the Holy Land. Only a few chosen are allowed in her presence; among them, her Angel, Carnaval.

Ansàrra bleeds a golden ichor for all of her devotees afflictions. Wounds and illnesses go through Her body so that they can be spared to those who love Her. Her Sunseeker caretakers, blind to everything but Her word, bathe and clean Her, collecting the gauzes that have touched Her body to make relics.

For the past six hundred years She has been caught in a struggle with the Adversary, the Stilladìa who murdered Saint Bragia and who, devotees of Madua believe, is behind the growth and encroaching might of the other three main Powers of the world: the trading empire of Frigeìa which is experiencing a budding industrial revolution, the Treviri Throne and its Asterites, and the aristocratic rule of the Mar da Candéa and its Echorists.

For the time being, Madua and the power of the Holy Land is still unmatched, but if a true confrontation would spark with one or more of the other Powers, who knows what might happen.

Her name comes from the Kiengir language: it means 'all-encompassing'.
Her symbol is the circle with three rays and the number six.


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THE ADVERSARY
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"I have always been a terrible liar."

-- The Stilladìa, about herself.


Mysteriously born at the time the least of the Seven Sister disappeared, the Stilladìa is the unholy patron of bartering, contracts, trade, ambition, merchants and greed.

She is infamous for murdering Saint Bragia Lacresta, striking a deadly blow to the heart of Ansàrra.

She resides in no land, and appears upon summoning. Usually, the Stilladìa looks like a petite young woman with very long white hair, alabaster skin covered in thin cracks, crimson eyes and a pair of curved black horns, between which rests a glowing symbol made out of all the souls that are currently bound to her by contract.

She usually approaches with a lovely, affably disposition, especially if she's interested in what one has to offer.

Make no mistake: the Stilladìa craves but one commodity. Her currency is souls, and over time she has accrued many thousands of them. It is believed she has thus set roots in every aspect of life outside of Madua, and as many fear, even in the Holy Lands herself.

Heretics say that the Stilladìa always honours her contracts, and in fact does everything she can to ascertain satisfaction of her 'customer'.

She is sometimes accompanied by her husband, the scholar Helias, who appears as a mass of liquid darkness with human features and glowing golden eyes.

The symbol of the Stilladìa in the five-lobed rosette, with the central petal pointed down. Other symbols are: the number eight, the colour silver, the written word, goats, the self-biting snake, money, ink, a hare jumping over a log, greeting people by raising the left hand.

Her specific goals are mysterious, but overall they amount to gathering up the greatest amount and quality of souls, especially those of Stranders, and a silent war of attrition against Madua.


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THE SEVEN SISTERS
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"[...] watch again another night, the Pleiades shall emerge[...]"

-- Walt Whitman, 'On the Beach at Night', 1871


Roaming the outer orbits of the Sky of Fixed Stars, the Seven Sisters compose the group of wandering stars which are the brightest in the night sky.

Even if they are called 'Seven Sisters', there are only six surviving. The least of them, Merope, was killed centuries ago right when the Stilladìa emerged, and has yet to incarnate again.

Considered a foul omen in every land, the Seven Sisters speak through dreams, visions and whispers, and command a small, secret, but often very well-connected group of cultists, the Rapture Priest, whose goal is to bring back the order prior to the Epochalypse and shatter the skies, whatever that may entail.

As they employ most esecrabile methods, they are shunned in all civilised countries, and hunting the Rapture Priests is usually considered reason enough for a ceasefire between Powers. Sometimes, opposing factions even temporarily join forces.

Usually once per lifetime, at least one of the Seven Sisters tries to incarnate and inhabit a living body. This is a matter of the utmost gravity. The manifestation of such a demon is a frightening occurrence which has previously required severe measures.

According to most eyewitnesses, there is no love lost not just between the Seven Sisters and Ansàrra, as it ought to be expected, but also between them and the Stilladìa.

It is unclear if the tradition that sees the Stilladìa as a rebel Sister is truth.

Their symbol is the number seven, or six motes of light in a circle surrounding a larger one.


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SAINT KISHIRRA
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"Elves live half lives."

-- Attributed to Saint Kishirra


Celebrated for being the first Elven convert to the true Faith, Kishirra lived in the dark centuries right after the establishment of the Holy Land, carrying the word of Ansàrra as a missionary and the paragon of every future Knight.

She is today the other most important Saint in the entire Faith.

According to heretic tradition, she took in as companion a reedsmith from the Mar da Candéa, some girl named Lugana Delebasse, but this is considered blasphemy.


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SAINT BRAGIA LACRESTA
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"Day will rise again."

-- Attributed to Saint Bragia


The first Archiater of Ansàrra, and celebrated as the most valiant and courageous Knight of her age, Saint Bragia was beloved as a daughter by Ansàrra.

Over the course of her short life she defeated the Cantakerous Worm and saved the whole of Madua from a terrible fate.

She is our favourite Saint and an inspiration because she achieved all she did not because she was the strongest, or the smartest, but because Bragia Lacresta trusted in Ansàrra.

And then, at the peak of her grace, she was murdered by the emerging Stilladìa.

The Order that carries her name is the most prestigious in all of Madua. It has no proper Head, but the elective position of Archiater is seen as the Head of the Order as well.

Her weapon is the axe, and as such all the Knights of her Order wield axes.
The flower bragialacra, which sometimes blooms in dungeons and ruins, is considered a holy sign by Ansàrra on celebration of Her loss.