Welcome back to the World of Astrom blog! Here I’m continuing my Races of Astrom series with a sequence of posts about the different Mortal people groups in Astrom. This follows on from previous posts about the elves, dwarves and armists.
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After the recent introduction to the Mortals in Astrom generally, this is the first in a series of posts looking at each race of Mortals in turn, beginning with Aranar before turning to Ciricen, Hendar and others.
Aranar occupies the very centre of Astrom, sandwiched between Ithrill to the west and Dorzand to the east, Hendar to the north and Maristonia to the south. It was one of the three great realms that became mortal after the Great Betrayal at the end of the Second Chapter, along with Ciricen and Hendar, but unlike the others, it was not a unified kingdom, and never became one.
From the late First Chapter onwards, thousands of years ago, it had been settled by disparate groups of elves in several different waves of migration, and these groups kept themselves apart, ruled by independent lords or chieftains, none of whom ever claimed kingship of the whole. First came those who abandoned the migration of Lancearon into the west, the Wood-elves who tarried in every forest along the way, and Prince Telerin of the Avatar who forsook his cousin’s leadership and settled in the downs between the rivers Vanri and Elarim. Many High-elves flocked to him, and he named himself Prince of Jaglalir.
But others came also, of different kindreds and serving different lords. Snow-elven chieftains came down out of Dorzand to settle in the White Mountains or the plains north of them; wandering High-elves came south from Eretholin’s Kingdom of Endomar to settle in the north of Aranar; and chivalric brotherhoods of warrior horsemen departed Telerin’s territory to crusade again goblin incursions from Dorzand. They built so many towers over the centuries that the easternmost part of Aranar became known as Normanar, Land of Towers. Last of all came Kenferon, an Ithrillian hero who was exiled from his homeland by Lancearon for fighting in the Carthaki Wars against his king’s wishes. Kenferon’s followers were the Teutons, devout warriors, and they settled in the wooded vale of the River Unicaur in southern Aranar, which was named Teutonia after them.
The dawn of the Third Chapter found a patchwork of peoples in Aranar descending from these early settlers: Kenferon and his exiled knights in the south, militaristic outposts scattered across Normanar in the east, colonists from Endomar in the north alongside Wood-elves, the descendants of Snow-elves on the plains at the mountains’ feet, and Telerin who claimed to rule most of western Aranar. All these groups had succumbed to mortality in the Great Betrayal, but they lived alongside many woodland communities of Wood-elves who remained immortal, but who dwindled in number as they gradually migrated either east to Kalimar or west to Ithrill.
Many wars were fought in the early centuries of the Third Chapter as rival lords vied for control of Aranar, but despite much bloodshed and foreign intervention, there was no decisive outcome until Aralore, Lord of Jaglalir, managed to contrive an innovative solution that would bring the civil wars to an end. He was the architect of the Hamid Tournament, where, instead of fighting each other on the battlefield, the lords of Aranar would compete with each other in feats of horsemanship. The winner would be declared Jeantar (Horse-Lord), to rule over Aranar for a period of one year, at which point they would have to defend their title in a new tournament. This annual sporting spectacle was derided by the hereditary monarchs of the neighbouring realms, but against all expectations it did manage to create the conditions for lasting peace. The common people loved the pageantry and entertainment of the tournament, and the lords were so busy competing for prestige that they rarely had time to fight each other for rule, while the strict annual term limit prevented any one lord from tyrannising others by ruling too long or establishing a hereditary dynasty.
Clans were established throughout the land to compete for glory at the Hamid Tournament. These clans had their roots in the diverse ethnic groups of Aranar’s history, but they quickly became the basis of Aranese society, where chivalry, horsemanship and skill at arms were prized above all else. The greatest clans were these: the Pegasus in the west, the Phoenix, the Bear and the Lion in the south, the Falcon, the Hawk and the Stallion in the east, the Unicorn and the Kestrel in the north and the Eagle and the Lion in the centre, but there were countless smaller clans besides.
Each clan was ruled by a lord who held power only so long as he could maintain the loyalty of his senior knights. Most clans had at least a few Clan Knights – some as many as dozens – and these were the greatest lieutenants and supporters of the Clan Lord, but also his rivals and potential challengers. The greatest advantage of lordship was being able to compete in all the events at the Hamid Tournament, and thus having the greatest opportunity to triumph overall. For that reason, most Jeantars tended to be Clan Lords, but it was not unheard of for Clan Knights to win the Hamid Tournament.
Beneath the Clan Knights were several other ranks of knight, which between them composed the landed aristocracy of Aranar. Paladins were the most prestigious knights, a rank attained only by winning a major tournament, followed by Bannerrettes, Cavalaires and Knights Errant, with squires being the lowest rung on the ladder of nobility. Every young boy in Aranar aspired to be a squire, and every squire dreamed of riches and glory as a knight or lord.
The clans were organised in a feudal manner. Clan Knights held land from the lord in return for service, and in turn the Clan Knights granted smaller fiefs to lesser knights in return for homage and support. All knights, from the lowest squires to the greatest lords, held their own lands, which were tenanted to peasant farmers, ranchers and herders. Whether they drove cattle, tilled the land or bred horses, every peasant was a member of a clan, which operated like an extended family with a great sense of belonging and corporate pride. Clan was key to your identity in Aranar, and fierce was the rivalry with other clans. From the clan came your legal rights and protection, your help in time of hardship and your hope for betterment in life. Every member of the clan swore oaths of loyalty to the clan itself, but only the Clan Knights pledged loyalty to the lord as well.
Aranar had farmers, shepherds, brewers, drovers, labourers and craftsmen like any nation, but here the most prized crafts were those connected to horses and the manufacture of knightly equipment, such as saddle-makers, armour-smiths, horse merchants and leatherworkers. Those who worked in these trades were well-regarded in Aranese society. There was high demand for horses of all kinds, especially war-horses who could compete in the great tournaments, and control of the greatest bloodlines was a major preoccupation. The knightly economy was also geared around weapons, tents, trophies, celebratory feasts and textiles for heraldic liveries, horse-barding, flags and banners.
The Tourney Circuit was the lifeblood of Aranese society, its greatest social occasions and the pathway to glory. The Hamid Tournament was the pinnacle of all, but beneath that was a full calendar of major tournaments in all the great cities of the land, organised into a Western Circuit and an Eastern Circuit. Below these were an even greater number of small local tourneys that might be anything from horse-racing to multi-event spectacles of duels, jousts, archery and horse-jumping. This was where the men of Aranar exercised their skills and showed off their talents. Those who did well in the provincial tourneys could expect to gain entry into the major tourneys, and thus come to the attention and sponsorship of great lords who could further their careers.
In peacetime the Aranese spent their leisure time playing at war, and so when real conflict arose, they had a strong military to call upon. Their great knights provided the best heavy cavalry in all Astrom, terrifying on their huge destriers and magnificent in elaborate armour and colourful caparisons. These knights were ably supported by the lower echelons of society, who served as mounted men-at-arms and light cavalry and scouts. Even those who could not wield lance or sword were able to join makeshift armies as archers and skirmishers. In one thing only were Aranese armies poorly supplied, and that was disciplined heavy infantry, and they also had little taste for nor expertise in siegecraft. Only the Jeantar had the authority to assemble the army of Aranar, calling the lords and their retainers together, but that did not mean that other lords did not try at times to wage private war on their own terms.
Aranar was a highly militarised society obsessed with horses and horsemanship, but it was also blessed with an abundance of religious organisations in a wider variety of forms than anywhere else in the continent. This stemmed from the days of the Second Chapter when kingless Aranar provided fertile soil for many different sects, creeds and religious orders to establish themselves. There was the ordained church, with bishops in the major cities presiding over official dioceses, but while the knightly class were careful to maintain a façade of piety, few of them possessed genuine faith in the ways of Prélan. Far more numerous and devoted were other types of religion: rich abbeys, independent monastic communities, wandering friars, isolated aesthetics and firebrand preachers who roused large but fleeting communities of adherents. The great monasteries of Aranar were famous for their libraries of lore, their beautiful manuscripts, their schools of philosophy and priceless artwork, including many heirlooms from the elven mystics of the Second Chapter. Many of these were shrines and popular pilgrim destinations, even those high in the mountains or deep in the forests.
Aranar had a complicated set of relationships with the nations surrounding her on all sides. To the north was overbearing Hendar, a larger and much more powerful kingdom whose rulers frequently condescended to the petty horse-lords on their border. The narrow strip of land along the coast between the Firth of Ciricen and the Stallion Hills was a major trade highway whose cities were melting pots of culture and thriving hubs of knowledge and gossip. To the west was elven Ithrill, no less proud than Hendar, but much more aloof, never quite forgiving or forgetting the Great Betrayal. For this reason much less trade went west over the Elarim than went north up the Great North Road.
Maristonia in the south was Aranar’s third great neighbour, with the mighty River Vanri lying between them. There were strong ties of friendship between the armist magnates of northern Maristonia and the southern clans of Aranar, but the long Vanri frontier was also a scene of much riverine piracy, smuggling and outlawry. Then there were the wilder frontiers to the north and east. Firwood and the Goragath Mountains were places of fear and dark legend for the Mortals of Aranar, and those who dwelt nearby did so in strong holdfasts and with well-guarded herds. Dorzand in the east was no less feared, a vast mysterious plateau of mist-shrouded highlands beyond a great cliff-lined border. The tribes of Dorzand frequently raided the eastern clans of Aranar and were constantly at war with the few clans who managed to maintain precarious footholds in Dorzand itself.
What made the folk of Aranar different from other Mortals? They were the best horsemen, the finest storytellers and the most zealous revellers of any Mortal land in Astrom. They were much more tribal, their lives hedged around with ties of oath-loyalty and clan kinship. Theirs was a highly stratified society, and yet much more mobile and fluid, for lords could be overthrown to become outcasts and energetic commoners could rise to glory at the point of a lance. Fortunes were made and lost much more easily in Aranar than elsewhere, and in no other realm was public entertainment, horse-based sport and ostentatious pageantry so well loved. They had vivid clothing, showing off the colours and badges of their clan, riotous feasts, fierce local rivalries and a rich storytelling tradition, prizing the legends of older days and tales of chivalry and gallantry, whether written, spoken or sung. Life in Aranar was colourful, courtly and chaotic. As a result, they were both admired and disparaged by their neighbours.
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