Atharia

🙶Magic separates us from the world; we shall not let anything separate us from the common people.🙷
— Frederick Myrmorn

Atharia, also known as the ‘Haven of Myths’, is a country located in the East. It is famed for its population consisting of over ten thousand different species, and their diversity in politics. They are at odds with Vohella due to their history of influence on politics, despite the fact that they are neighboring countries.

Atharia has always been and is currently led by the imperial family Myrmorn. They have ruled for over five hundred years.

Atharia is the main setting of the three stories.

Origin

A nation founded by the traveling nymph Calypso. The young sorceress had seen that the unknown land was rampant with ghosts, and took it upon herself to cleanse the spirits instead of sealing or killing them. The corrupted spirits were appreciative of Calypso’s gentle nature and provided her a home within the land. With her efforts combined with the power of the nature spirits, she established Atharia: a place where everyone could belong, human or not. She was a de facto ruler— she did not mean to lead the wide, vast land, but she was regarded as the ruler by the few families who lived in the then-barren and cursed land.

Instead of mothering her own child, she took care of the orphan she found in the depths of the forest. She gave the child the name Myrrh-morn, and raised it until the girl was old enough to live on her own. Upon the growth of the child, Calypso continued her journey around the world, entrusting the nation to the girl.

The girl gave herself the name Adelaide Myrmorn, honoring the name her foster mother gave her. Adelaide was commonly looked up to by the people and, with the rise of the neighboring country Vohella’s control on the world, she was quickly crowned the empress of Atharia in the heat of political pressure.

Beliefs and Culture

Majority believed in Calypso as a goddess, but Atharia is a polytheistic country, open to all beliefs.

Many believed in the primordial goddess, especially the human population, due to their refusal of acknowledgement on a non-human being the country founder.

The human part of the population are seen to have mixed opinions on Atharia being an open country. Some think that non-humans are welcome, while some are threatened due to their overwhelming power compared to humans. Nonetheless, many non-humans have climbed on top of the social ladder and are even serving the country as nobility.

Festivities

The main yearly celebration of Atharia is the Half-summer Festival, holding it right when Calypso stumbled upon Atharia. Citizens celebrate it in exceedingly grand ways to honor the kind goddess: one is a procession with a big moving stage where a play will be held, re-enacting the nymph’s cleanse of the land. Another is the moving carriage of musicians playing fanfare in the entire royal capital for an entire week. Atharian nobility are seen in the festival, helping the common people, showing the unity between social divides and different species.

After a few hundred years, the festival became a symbol of peace, one of Calypso’s core teachings to humans.

This celebration was stopped upon the absence of the Empress, much to the dismay of the people.