Nations

This article is a brief review of the core nations of Atharen. While there are many more, these are the most central to Atharen's current plot. Currently, only Daravin, Lorien and Radenor are available to play in actively, but other nations may be included in a character's backstory or country of origin. These are only short summaries of each nation. For more information, please click on the hotlink connected to each nation, which will take you to their full, in-depth lore pages on the Atharen website. Some nations may not have a hotlink: this means they are in development.

Some of the 'nations' on this list are not in fact individual nations, but cultural regions, or regions that once resided within a larger, sovereign state.

You may see the relative location of each nation on the World Map.

 Daravin: The Daravinic Empire is among Atharen's most controversial of nations, a source of fear and disabuse towards the very idea of unregulated magic. Ruled by the magocratic Entente, Daravin is a nation forever in conflict, compelled by its apocalyptic faith to wage holy war against its neighbors until the last of them are singing the praises of their God, the Returning King. While most people in Daravin are serfs, worked to the bone, the Empire's upper strata is wealthy and decadent, entrenched in an eternal game of information known as the Candor.

 Technology Level: Renaissance (Early Modern)
 Population: 60,000,000
 Government: Feudal Magocracy 
 Ruler: Emperant Justane Blancéford
 Adjectives/Demonyms: Daravinic, Daravain
 Status: Playable

 Grisic: The Grisic Empire, or Griscian Commonwealth internally, is the most powerful nation on Atharen. Grisic is considered the true inheritor of the Unbroken Empire, born of old colonial principalities that unified in the wake of the Bleeding, forging an autocratic state. Grisic was the birthplace of the Divine Abolition, the movement to cast down the Living Gods as flawed figures, casting aspersion and critique towards their history. Now, in the contemporary era, it acts as an exporter of ideology for violent, anti-theist and anti-magic activities all across the continent of Atharen.

 Technology Level: Middle Industrial
 Population: 128,000,000
 Government: Parliamentarian Autocracy
 Ruler: Emperor Vergil Fairfax
 Adjectives/Demonyms: Griscian, Grisic
 Status: Open For Backstories, Memory Threads

 Lorien: The Kingdom of Lorien is an insular, frigid land, steeped in eternal winter. With most of its societal labor performed by an autonomous workforce of Artificed golems known as 'Hollows', the people of Lorien are known to be refined, lazy erudites, with haughty, superior demeanors and truly superb knowledge of their trades. Lorien is a land of innovators and educators, a pioneer of their own form of industrialism. Among all of Atharen's nations, the average Rien citizen carries more individual wealth than any other nation on earth. Despite this, they lie beneath the jurisdiction of a malevolent religious sect, dominated by otherworldly ravens known as the Kindred. Lorien's people are paranoid and fatigued, and in the midst of an ongoing civil war, they grow increasingly ideologically inclined.

 Technology Level: Middle Industrial
 Population: 36,000,000
 Government: Absolute Monarchy
 Ruler: Kaiser Lucien Revenlow
 Adjectives/Demonyms: Rien, Loric
 Status: Playable

 Radenor: Radenor was among the first human nations on Atharen, and was once an impressive, unified state built to stand against the Ald'Norai. After falling to the Unbroken Empire in the Age of Man, Radenor was ravaged and exploited, its culture nearly eradicated in a linguistic and religious genocide. In the wake of that era, and as a post-colonial state, Radenor has since become divided and besieged, attacked by Daravin to the east, warring with the Krish to the west. Despite this, it has held strong to its culture and faith, remaining one of the few nations on Atharen to follow the Path, the faith of the old Gods. 

 Technology Level: Late Medieval
 Population: 26,000,000
 Government: Feudal Monarchy
 Ruler: The Four Kyngs
 Adjectives/Demonyms: Norunn, Norad
 Status: Playable

 Sil-Elaine: While Sil-Elaine has been the residence of the Sil'Norai for many generations, it was not their birthplace. When the Elves were expelled from Daravin in the wake of Silor's fall, they were brought to Sil-Elaine en masse, a tragedy that became history's greatest forced relocation. Confined to the region, they learned to thrive in their murky, low-lying environment, only for their realm to be razed in the events of the Bleeding. In the aftermath, Sil-Elaine's government was devoured from within, a group of ambitious Dranoch instituting a new order across the realm. Ever since, it has suffered beneath their rule, and lies in the midst of a rebellion to seek freedom from their grip. 

 Technology Level: Renaissance
 Population: 4,500,000
 Government: Parliamentary Council
 Ruler: The Court of Dusk
 Adjectives/Demonyms: Elainian, Sil-Elainian
 Status: Open For Backstories, Memory Threads

 Teos: Teos is a marvel among Atharen's nations. Due to its geography, it has historically been isolated from its neighbors, blocked on all sides by mountains that make invasion — in or out — nearly impossible. Because of this, Teos' culture and technological development has largely remained local, with the antiquated region never quite outgrowing its own age of heroes, myths and Epics. Teos' disparate city-states are known to wield powerful navies, their ships filled with practitioners of Baptism and other magics, flinging Necromantic abominations onto other ships to ravage their crew. Tied to the occult of the Brine, Teos is known for its deep-dwelling aquatic religion, and its vast swathes of Druskai half-bloods. 

 Technology Level: Late Antiquity
 Population: 9,000,000
 Government: Varies
 Ruler: Archons
 Adjectives/Demonyms: Teostai, Evrostati
 Status: Open For Backstories