Duchy of Atravia

Lore

In the beginning.
Ancient lore begins the tale of the Atrav long ago when the world was new. The wolfen were said to roam the lands of Eisengrun, a place gifted to them by the gods themselves. They were the wisest of all wolves and guarded their lands with fierce tenacity in order to keep all others out of their lands. These wolfen had an intelligence that rivaled even that of the first Elyrians. They could understand and even communicate with the people of the land on a verbel level. Those Elyrians who lived in the surounding areas knew better than to venture too far into Eisengrun for the wolfen that lived there rarely allowed any to leave alive.

When the gods created the first Elyrians, the wolfen looked on with both facination and concern. These new creatures tended to lean towards war and violence. They often failed to work in equilebrium with their enviornment and often with dire consequences. The wolfen thought that eventually these creatures would continue to grow their numbers and spill into their lands. A wolfen female by the name of Atravia decided to act by approaching a small settlement of wanderers who were struggling to make it through their first winter. Osala, her mate, was a strong alpha male and wisest of all the Wolfen. Osala understood well Atravia's concern over these humans and agreed that guiding theme would be to the benefit of all wolfen. It was he who established and passed on the catechysm known as the Tenants.

The Tenants laid out a code of honor and discipline that had been previously unknown to the Elyrians. There were taught how to establish tribes known as dens and how to organize leadership into packs. Each den was to be comprised of twelve packs. Of the twelve packs, a leader would be selected as the alpha over the dens and betas were selected to lead over the packs. Packs often worked to specialize in different areas for the good of the den. This allowed the Elyrians to live more easliy at one with nature while adhearing to a strict code of honor. The Elyrians caught on quickly and became proficient in their new disciplines. Osla, pleased with the progress of these creatures decided to name them after his wife, calling them the Atrav.

The Atrav were treated like other packs that lived within Eisengrun and allowed to establish a settlement in the heart of it which they named Osala, in honor of the wolfen who had brought them the tenants. This tribe was named the Luitolf. Over time, the tribe would begin to grow and prosper. New dens were created by the ever growing packs and were sent outside of Eisengrun in order to maintain equilibrium with the enviornment. The dens who lived outside of Eisengrun became known as the Atravi. For every twelve Atravi dens one alpha known as a The Chosen would be selected to represent that Atravi den in Osala. In this way, the dens would still be linked together by this one chain of leadership.

The Cataclysm
Years passed and over that time, the Atravi grew in numbers and land near Eisengrun became scarce. Wars began to break out amoung the Atravi as well as jealousy towards the Luitolf who were allowed to live inside Eisengrun. As desension grew, many of the dens desided to rebel and began moving into Eisengrun. The wolfen became angered at this over step and began warring with these drifters. Osala, being old in age, asked the Luitolf to intervene quickly before things got out of hand. Luitolf instructed The Chosen to get thier dens in line. The dens promptly resonded by killing The Chosen and skinning them. This lead to a period known as the silence because the dens refused to adhear to the laws laid out by the Tenants. Their flesh was then used to create the heresy known as Pack Rule. It instructed the Atravi tribes to cast off the Tenants in favor of survival of the fitest. Thus war broke out and the siege of Osala began.

The war took its toll and many Luitolf, wolfen and Atravi persished. Unfortunately the Atravi had the greater numbers and it appeared as if Osala would fall. Now the rest of the tale is relatively unknown. Some believe though that the wolfen cried out to the gods to save them. As legend would have it, the gods would answer. The purge began as the gods began systemantically wiping out the Atravi. Eventually the tribes were left on the brink of extinction, with Osala being the last city of the Atrav and the gods turned their wraiths eyes towards it. An aged Atravia, unwilling to allow all she had worked so hard for to go undone begged their wraith be stayed. The gods became angry at Atravia and wished to make an example of her. Osala stood before the gods and instead asked that they spare Atravia and the Atrav and instead banish them from Eisengrun forever. The gods, pleased at Osalas offer killed him and demanded that all Atrav be forever banned. Atravia, heart broken by the loss of her lover Osala turned toward the gods and asked for one final request that a mark be placed on the Atrav so that they can never set foot in Eisengrun again until penance had been made. This also please the gods so they set The Mark of Atrvia on the Luitolf and sent them out of Eisengrund. Legend states that someday when recompense has been made, the Mark will guide the tribes back home to the holy land of Eisengrun.

Finally, as the last Atrav walked out of Eisengrun a dense fog was seen rising up. The fog lasted twelve days and when it finally rose, the holy land of Eisengrun, all its cities and even the Tenants had vanished with it. Luitolf vowed one day to return to this land and rebuild Eisengrun and reunite all Atravi, even those who had fled the cataclysm.

History

Atravia was won over to Drescuri during a great war between the Balaur family and Luitolf clan which only ended with the marriage between the daughter of the Jarl and the son of the Duke, leading to the Atravia being added the families personal lands. The marriage was arranged to end the bloodshed, with the agreement that control of the mark was always held be the Luitolf clan.

Centuries later, a man by the name of Redgar Luitolf, Gothi of the Luitolf clan, decided he wanted to become the rightful ruler of Atravia, feeling the the Balaur clan was no longer Atravi enough to be considered rightful rulers under the agreement. With this, he declared himself Jarl of the Atravi, and started an insurrection. Not even Atravi citizen sided with Redgar, not even every member of the Luitolf clan sided with him. His main opponent within the Mark was a woman by the name of Alina Yalow, a great warrior and leader in her own right.

Many battles were fought, and eventually with it appearing Redgar getting the upper hand. Kaleva, growing tired of all the fighting in Atravia, took a detachtment of the Dragon's Guard in hopes of putting it to an end. With the combination of of Alina's loyal forces, and Kalev's soldiers, they were able to push back to Isengrim Keep, Redgar's seat of power in the Capital of Osala.

Knowing that this would not end the bloodshed of the people, Kaleva decided to invoke an ancient law that stated one could challenge a Gothi for their position as Gothi through the means of honorable combat. Redgar exited Isegrim Keep, knowing that if he didn't take the challenge that he would lose all support. He put in the stipulation that if he won, the Dragon's Guard would leave Atravia and leave it to be determined by its inhabitants. Kalvea agreed with his own stipulation, that if he won, the people loyal to Redgar would follow Kaleva instead, and keep true to the agreement left so long ago.

After a long and bloody battle, Kalvea won by lobbing the head off Redgar. He was the new Gothi of the Luitolf, and declared himself Jarl of the Atravi. He sent the Dragon's guard back to Duchy Capital of Brosov, and transformed those loyal to him into the Amarok's Chosen. The Duchy Guard. He kept Alina around as a personal advisor. Months later, a messenger arrived from Brosov with a letter from Kaleva's brother, the duke, giving his title of Margrof of Atravia to Kaleva, making his rule there official in the eyes of the duchy and kingdom. Kaleva now has a a long way to prove to his people that he truly has their best interests in mind.

Years later, Jarl Kaleva Dvorak would prove his metal once again when he came to the defense of the kingdom that earned him respect with both the King and Duke Ștephan Balaur thus he was officially recognized as Jarl over Atravia. This recognition transformed Atravia into a duchy and granted Kaleva a larger domain.

Today

Atravia is a varied Duchy, with its own clans, lost clans, langage, customs and history. The counties of Atravia follow their own hearts to provide for the common good, whether it be agriculture, animal husbandry, textiles, banking, baking, smithing and more. There is a place for all in Atravia, save those who would desecrate the health and freedom of the people.

The Counties of Atravia
 * Eisengrun
 * Briva
 * Osala (capitol)

The Jarldom of Atravia is a smaller and newer Duchy that most. Currently recruiting for a quality group of people that are willing to work for a common goal together as well as help each other grow. With a primary Duchy goal of exploration of Elyria that is supported financially not only be their own duchy, but also by 2 other dukes in our kingdom, as well as King Einar himself. We call this a goal and not a focus because its not forced on people. Meaning that this is not the only thing you can do. We aim for a community where people do what they think is fun. We can make whatever you do support this these over arching duchy goals in some way.

We also have a strong focus on story and personal duchy lore. Will we use the lore SBS provides us for a base, we also build upon it and make it our own. We take inspiration from northern and central Europe, Eurasia, Inuit, and years of personal fiction. The community members are not only welcome, but encouraged to bring up any lore ideas they feel would fit into the duchy, and will be taken seriously. Atravia plans to have an integrative but open community. This means that while the duke will have some oversight of how things run, he will not rule as a dictator. Everyone regardless of position will be able to bring up ideas and help us flesh out and grow.

Atravia also holds to a "no infighting" policy. They will defend anyone who isn't grossly incompetent. Conquest is not within Atravian interests.