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, and after these portraits of the Mortals of Aranar and the Mortals of Ciricien, this is the third in a series of posts looking at each race of Mortals in turn. Still to come are the Mortals of Hendar, Lurallan and Urunmar.
Hendar is the largest of the Mortal kingdoms of Astrom, situated in the northwest of the continent. It was originally an elven kingdom called Endomar, founded by exiles from Kalimar in the First Chapter. It grew and developed in isolation from Kalimar, and throughout the Second Chapter its culture drifted further and further apart. Heretical ideas found fertile soil there, which led to schism from the orthodox elven faith. As heresy turned into demon worship, the kingdom also fractured politically, with a renegade mage kingdom arising to contest with the King of Endomar and various enclaves where faithful followers of Prélan clung on. The Second Chapter ended in darkness and chaos as the elves of Endomar denounced Prélan en masse in a tragic event known as the Great Betrayal. In so doing they brought down upon themselves the Curse of Mortality, a watershed moment in Astrom’s history, which was accompanied by unprecedented natural disasters as earth, sea and sky convulsed.
If the Second Chapter ended in chaos, the Third Chapter began with anarchy. The northlands were overrun by war, disease, earthquakes and floods. The remnant of the faithful migrated to elven Ithrill, and at the same time the King of Ithrill, Lancearon, led an invasion of Endomar that overthrew the evil mage domain and executed the ringleaders of the Great Betrayal. The Kingdom of Hendar was a new entity that emerged in the wake of Lancearon’s withdrawal. Its people had lost their immortality and been forever estranged from their elven kin, but along with their new nature they gained a new identity, a new language and a new worldview. When one of their early kings was murdered, there followed centuries of civil war in which the five dukedoms vied for supremacy. Only much later did the Duke of Nalator unify the nation again under a new dynasty and a restored monarchy.
There was peace for a time during the Ship-King era, and a limited reconciliation with the elves. This rapprochement flowered into friendship and alliance in the face of a new common enemy as Kurundar rose to power in Urunmar. Hendar was part of the Great Alliance that defeated the sorcerer-king in the First War of Kurundar, and afterwards became a member of the Great Union which tied the nations of Astrom together in peace, trade and cooperation for centuries. Yet eventually the selfish interests of each nation prevailed, and the fragile unity of Astrom splintered once more.
Hendar had grown strong in those days, strong enough to risk provoking neighbouring Ithrill. Yet they had not reckoned with the resolve of Lancearon, who proved to be an implacable enemy. At first his counter-attacks were limited reprisals, but then he began to take and hold Hendarian territory, growing ever more convinced that Mortals could never be trusted. Lancearon correctly foresaw that Kurundar would arise again to threaten Astrom, and resolved to build a mighty empire capable of withstanding them. Yet Hendar and other Mortal nations resisted, and what followed were the Silver Wars, an epic struggle that lasted for over a thousand years. Little by little, Hendar was consumed by the growing Silver Empire, which at its height in the late Third Chapter occupied over half of Astrom. Pacified Hendar was divided once more, this time between those who assimilated and cooperated with the occupying imperial power, and even fought for it against Kurundar, and those who swore undying hatred for the elven conquerors.
It took the almighty conflagration of the Second War of Kurundar for Hendar to recover its freedom and independence, though not before all of Astrom had nearly fallen into darkness. Kurundar was defeated and elven imperial power was broken, which meant a Mortal kingdom could once again establish itself in the early days of the Fourth Chapter. That kingdom slowly healed from its trauma and grew wealthy and powerful. Yet its future is uncertain as Kurundar arose to power in Urunmar for a third time, and as war-clouds gather over Astrom, it is Hendar once again that it is on the frontlines.
The Five Dukedoms
Hendar was made up of five dukedoms: Jalator, Kalator, Lalator, Malator and Nalator, each named after a city founded by the great lords of the First Chapter. Jalator lies in the south, land-locked and fenced on one side by the Goragath Mountains and on the other by the mighty River Goralar. Isolated from the other realms of Astrom, it was a secretive, insular place with strange customs and a distinctive dialect. In ancient days the faithful elves had held out longest here, before disappearing over the high passes into Ithrill. It is ruled by its namesake city from atop a huge plateau with towering cliff-walls, and it enjoys great wealth from controlling the stone and metal trades that originate in the mountains.
Kalator is the oldest and proudest of the five dukedoms, lying in the east of the country where the elven exiles first settled. Kalator city is the capital of Hendar, its spiritual and political centre. It is home to both the royal palace and the Senate, whose delegates represent all five dukedoms. Thus, Kalator is the scene of frequent power struggles between the Crown and the Senate, a legacy of Hendar’s quasi-federal history where the dukedoms have traditionally enjoyed great autonomy. Kalator is a wealthy province, enjoying the lion’s share of trade with Ciricen to the east and Aranar to the south. The River Gorathar, flowing north out of the Goragath Mountains, separates Kalator from the other dukedoms to the west, but many roads cross the river on great bridges to facilitate east-west trade across Hendar.
Lalator is the smallest dukedom, sandwiched between Kalator and Aranar in the far south-east of the kingdom. It is a trade hub, a centre of learning and a place where the merchants of the world can gather and exchange news. Adorned with wonderful architecture built by millennia of fat profits, Lalator can entertain guests and travellers in fine style. Since time immemorial it has had a reputation for both creative culture and permissive values, making it both much sought after for its artists and infamous for its debauchery and wine-soaked revels.
Malator in the west is much more sober and much larger. Dominated by the Goralar Valley, it lies between Nalator to the north and Jalator and Ithrill to the south. It is the richest and most populous dukedom, home to many of Hendar’s greatest cities and much of its industry. It enjoys maritime trade in the Rétorn Ocean with both Ithrill and Maristonia, and, because it was conquered first and longest ago, it bears the heaviest mark of imperial elven influence.
Nalator is another large dukedom, occupying the northern third of Hendar between the Endorro Hills and the Haunted Pass. It has a reputation for being uncivilised, its people wild and free and lacking the sophistication of Malator or Kalator. In fact, it is divided between by a spine of high, windswept hills, on either side of which are rich vales and lowlands with large, cosmopolitan cities. Nalator boasts some of the greatest fortresses in all Astrom, both Nalator itself, but also Tor Kenfer, a mighty complex of castles and long walls that guard against the threat of Urunmar beyond the Haunted Pass to the north.
Hendarian Distinctives
The Hendarians are both admired and disliked by other folk in Astrom. On the one hand, they are considered as arrogant, pretentious and too wealthy for their own good. On the other, they are recognised as having the most sophisticated culture of any Mortal realm. Hendar is famed for its creative skill and her artists, architects, painters, sculptors and poets are highly prized by wealthy patrons across the continent. Hendar is an economic powerhouse in Astrom thanks to its sheer size and generous natural resources. Its banks extend lines of credit across northern Astrom, which allows it great influence abroad, often bullying less powerful and less wealthy neighbours like Aranar and Ciricen. Owing to its history, Hendar has a very strained and mutually suspicious relationship with elven Ithrill, whereas it maintains a cool friendship with Maristonia, which is just as large and rich, but too far away to be a serious rival.
Hendar has a wide mixture of architectural styles, ranging from squat stone dwellings and alpine villages with overhanging roofs in the south to elegant old elven cities with graceful towers and airy villas in the west. It is famous for its red-brick mansions, especially in the south-east, while broad, sweeping facades and pentagonal shapes are characteristic and can be found across the kingdom. Hendar has been fought over so often that it fairly bristles with impressively fortified cities, and it enjoys the best road network of any nation in Astrom, another bequest of the Silver Empire.
Hendarian cuisine is distinctive, with lots of elaborate flavours and recipes, marked by a taste for exotic meats and sculpted confections of all shapes and sizes. There are fish-based diets along its coasts and pastoralists tending great flocks in the northern and southern hills, while in the two great river basins of the Gorathar and Goralar an agrarian lifestyle based on cereal crops prevails. Hendar produces good wines, especially in the warmer climes of the south-west and south-east, but they are not as high quality as those of Ithrill or Maristonia, or the famous vineyards of Redmar in Aranar.
Fashions in Hendar are as elaborate as its cooking, full of vibrant colours and extravagant styling. There are strict dress-codes for different classes within society, where graded laws impose drab clothing on peasants while allowing progressively more costly fabrics and outfits for the gentry, lesser lords and great magnates. Among the distinctive clothing of Hendar’s ruling elite in the mid-Fourth Chapter are tight, colourful hose, wide-shouldered tunics, deep-sleeved overcoats and long-tasselled hats.
Hendarian Religion
Hendarian religion has always been different from that in other realms, ranging from eccentric at best to evil at worst. It was the first and greatest home for heresies of all kinds in the Second Chapter before its people came back to the truth faith of Prélan in the first millennium of the Third Chapter. Elven orthodoxy was vigorously imposed with the spread of the Silver Empire, and many Hendarians embraced pagan cults as part of their rejection of elven culture. After the Silver Empire dissolved, a more nationalistic flavour of Prélan worship sprang up in Hendar, though the church hierarchy was forever mired in scandal, corruption and abuse. The church was a major landowner, and its wealthy abbots and bishops were great players in the endless power struggles between the king and his over-mighty dukes.
Hendarians prize their Mortal heroes with obsessive fervour, celebrating their deeds in history and song while preferring to forget the trauma and shame of centuries under imperial occupation. As a nation, and in particularly in Nalator, they are obsessed with the threat from Urunmar in the north, and think that they shoulder more than their fair share in combatting it. The warriors of Hendar feel protective of the rest of Astrom, but often let down and unsupported by other nations which lie much further from the menace.
Hendarian Military
Part of Hendar’s imperial legacy is having a fine standing army, which still follows elven military doctrines. They fight with weapons modelled after elven patterns and defend fortresses built by the elves. In the Fourth Chapter the Hendarian Army is divided into Ducal Hosts, with each duke controlling a field army of several divisions, which are supported in garrison duty and local policing by informal regional militias. The soldiers on duty at Tor Kenfer feel a sacred duty to their watch over the Haunted Pass, but elsewhere troops’ loyalty is given to the great lord who pays and rewards them, either the king or one of the dukes. The Hendarian Army is composed of both infantry and cavalry, and they excel above all other nations in the arts of siege defence, having become experts through repeated, painful experience. Hendar also has a strong navy, split between the Rétorin Fleet in the western ocean and the Eastern Fleet which patrols the Firth of Ciricen. With Kurundar rising in power and on the move once more, Hendar will need all these military resources and more to survive into the later Fourth Chapter.
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