Faithful followers, Fridays in AEthrem has returned! We must apologize for our absence last week, but personal issues prevented us from providing you with our regular, thrilling post. And now, without further delay let us delve into the growing darkness of Ferridon!
Among the nations of AEthrem, Ferridon is one of the youngest, but it is founded on ancient cultural roots. The Ferridi Highlands lie to the far south of Pelifor, an expanse of moors, steppes, and eventually the foothills of arctic mountains in their most southerly reaches. The landscape of the highlands is harsh and inhospitable, making it one of the few parts of Pelifor that did not fall under the control of the ancient ghond civilization - a fact that the native human clans of the region still take pride in.
While poised to claim most of southern Pelifor following the fall of the ghond, the Ferridi clans were instead slowly overwhelmed by recently-liberated human servants and their descendants. Generations spent in servitude had given the freed human population knowledge and innovations that the Ferridi just didn't have, not to mention access to pacts with ryn - which the Ferridi considered a taboo. The natives of the Highlands found themselves again slowly pushed back into the least desirable parts of their homeland, struggling to keep up with the advancements of the outside world. A few Ferridi endured in their lost territories, becoming second-class citizens to new colonists.
The patient endurance of the Highland people came to an end just twenty years ago. A charismatic leader came to the head of the Khradi clan, an outcast family known to allow the creation of thandi pacts among its members. The Khradi's leader stoked the fires of rage among the Ferridi, calling for a Reclamation of their lost lands. His support reached a fever pitch with the Week of Blood, when the members of the Ulaz clan and their supporters (who had long acted as a diplomatic face for the clans with outside nations) were exterminated by the Khradi and their allies.
After usurping leadership of the clans, the Khradi leader established Ferridon as a new nation, with himself as its leader, the First Lawgiver. The First consolidated his power to lead with an iron fist, and destroyed any record of his birth name - he is now referred to only by his title. Ferridon spent the next five years in a constant state of war known as the Ferridi Reclamation, seizing one colony or independent nation of southern Pelifor after another. Ultimately, the new nations borders extended from the Ferridi Highlands to the southern sands of the Lahana Desert, with only a few small neighboring countries maintaining independence.
In the decade and a half since, Ferridon has consolidated its power - seizing the resources and infrastructure of its new territories and building upon them. The Khradi clan are the undisputed rulers of the nation in the political, military, and economic arenas alike - their ranks have grown exponentially, as anyone wanting a position of power in Ferridon seeks adoption into the clan. Citizens live day to day at the edge of martial law, with the fauffgraen (an order of thandi military police) executing dissidents and traitors in the street on a regular basis. In spite of this risk, rumors persist that numerous rebel groups and foreign spy networks operate within the nation's borders, doing what they can to resist the Khradi.
Ferridon has grown in power to rival any other human nation, expanding its military by leaps and bounds. Suspicion grows by the day that the First is ready to begin expanding his empire for the first time since the Reclamation. For now, Ferridon strikes out subtly, with Khradi operatives spread throughout the world, disrupting rival powers and spying on potential threats to the young nation. At the same time, the mad archeologists of the state-sponsored steinnenanchwaan dig for the most dangerous relics of the ancient worlds to no good end. If given the chance, the Khradi regime will plunge the world of AEthrem into a war the likes of which it has never seen. The question, then, is what exactly are they waiting for?
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Venture! Thrilling Adventures in the World of AEthrem and its associated characters are the property of Weird Science Games, LLC, Copyright 2015.
West End Games, OpenD6, and The D6 system are trademarks and properties of Purgatory Publishing Inc.
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