The People
The Maneni are a kind and peaceful people. They are devout worshipers of Manen and, as such, She has marked them as Hers in specific ways, making their skin dark as night and their hair like softly glowing nebulous clouds.
The Terrain
Their country is vast, taking up at least half, if not more, of the western continent. Much of it is covered in Sigar’s ancient forests, but there are also swamps and marshes. Cliffs line the eastern side with more cliffs moving inward. There is a long peninsula that juts out near Efitras.
Deity Gifts
Manen gifts Her people with two distinct magics: elemental and martial. For elemental there are five elements: fire, water, wind, electricity, and Moonlight. Earth and ice she reserves for Kalnasa and Eira respectively, as they specially requested it. A mage will be gifted in one of those five areas but they can, with great effort, use magic from one of the other four. While using only the raw elements is most popular, these mages can also craft spells that can be used by any elemental mage and imbue various objects with their magic if they so choose. Manen marks them with a white waxing crescent Moon on their foreheads.
The martial magic is different and less obvious. It manifests in increased physical attributes such as strength and speed and also an innate ability to use a certain kind of weapon, such as long blades or short bows. She marks them with a white waning crescent Moon on their foreheads.
Other Deity Involvement
Manen is not the only Deity in Manena. Sigar has a small group of worshipers, mostly in Nightwood, which was created by His first follower. There is a small temple dedicated to Him in the Order Keep there and at any one time, there is a priest or priestess and their acolyte residing there. He gifts them with nature magic, which has two purposes: healing and tree growth and manipulation. He marks his followers with a vine wrapped around their right forearm.
Provinces
There are eight provinces in the country, each with their own capital:
- Eastlyn Province – Cape Eastcliff
- Southedge Province – Squall’s End
- Springwood Province – Crater Port (also the country’s capital)
- Faircoast Province – Westshore
- Marshwyn Province – Starkeep
- Northmont Province – Moonfort
- Oldwood Province – Nightwood
- Edgecliff Province – High Port
Economy
Manena has many exports since their country is so vast. Being one of the last nations free from the Aurinkun Empire, their economy is still strong. Their money pays tribute to Manen and Her creations: gold Moons (5 silver crescents to 1 gold moon, or 50 copper stars to 1 gold moon) silver crescents (10 copper stars to 1 silver crescent) and copper stars.
The Military
The Manena military is vast thanks to The Prophecy and centuries of preparation. There are two parts: the regular army and the Order of the Moon. Within the regular army, there is the standing army, the navy, the city guard, and the reserves. The Order is split between the Sisterhood and the Brotherhood.
The Sisterhood doesn’t function like the rest of the military. It’s for the mages. They take care of the schooling and religious duties for the nation during times of peace and they are magical fighters during times of war. They do not subscribe to the idea of ranks and hierarchy outside of Head Sisters who run the Order Keeps and the Mother who runs the Sisterhood.
The regular army and the Brotherhood have a similar life path, with all of them going through the same military school and then afterward, though they are separate, their training and many of their duties are the same. The standing army and the reserves will often have more civic-minded duties, like construction work, or helping various places like orphanages, Sisterhood infirmaries, and homeless shelters.
The Brotherhood are elite warriors specially chosen by the Moon Mother. Within it, there are several options:
- Brothers: Aside from being elite warriors, they have no special duties.
- Teachers: They are tasked with teaching the kids in the military schools.
- Rangers: They are the stealthier ones. They tend to be scouts. They are good at tracking and hunting and natural medicine.
- New Moons: This is a covert section of the Rangers. They are the spies and assassins and information gatherers.
- Moonguards: The elite of the elite tasked with guarding the Lodestar and the High Stars.
- Trades: Those who wish to do something other than military work like blacksmithing, cooking, or working with the horses.
Armor and weapons are fairly standardized across the regular army and the Brotherhood. Their dress uniforms differ only in color. The regular army colors are black and silver, navy are blue and silver, city guard are dark gray and silver, and the Brotherhood are dark purple and silver. Rank and star insignia types are shared between the regular army and the Brotherhood. There is one key difference between the two: Brotherhood insignias are the color of their star classification with their star class letter in black, and regular army insignias are black with their star class letter in the star classification color.
The ranks and star classifications are as follows:
- Lodestar
- Major General – Blue Star Class O
- Brigadier General – Blue White Star Class B
- Colonel – White Star Class A
- Lieutenant Colonel – Yellow White Star Class F
- Major – Yellow Star Class G
- Captain – Orange Star Class K
- Lieutenant – Red Star Class M
- Staff Sergeant – Red Star Class R
- Sergeant – Red Star Class N
- Corporal – Red Star Class S
- Private – Brown Star Class L
Tour and Pilgrimage
Both Sisters and Brothers have a tradition that takes them to every Order Keep in the republic. Though they are essentially the same, they are treated differently. The idea is for the Brothers and Sisters to be more well rounded at the end of their journey and to be able to impart their newly gained knowledge onto their fellows at whatever Order Keep they are assigned.
For Sisters it’s a Pilgrimage. The top percentage of a newly anointed class of Sisters gets to go on Pilgrimage. The idea is to visit every cathedral, church and chapel along the way to visit with the people and learn how Sisters do things throughout the country. They will spend a month in each Order Keep to learn all they can from the Sisters there.
For Brothers it’s a Tour. Brothers wait a year before they can be selected to go on Tour. With the nature of their magic being more subtle, it is often the case that a child in the military school that is thought to graduate into the regular army will in fact become an anointed Brother. The next year is spent training their magic and knowing their limits. Once a year is up, like the Sisters, the top percentage of that anointed class will be chosen to go on Tour. They will visit each Order Keep and train with their fellow soldiers for a month before moving on.
This image shows the traditional route Brothers and Sisters take in yellow. Red is the route Hemi decides the group should take in order to keep the shadowy organization from being able to effectively track them. The light blue are the places where detours have to be made along the way or where Hemi decides they will have to take a detour in the future.
Cape Eastcliff
Cape Eastcliff is the city Neoma is born and raised in, the city she where spent the entirety of her life until going on Tour. It has a sleepy feel to it and has grown in recent years due to higher costs at the Crater Port harbor. It’s much cheaper to unload goods in Cape Eastcliff and send them along the road to the capital city.
The Order Keep in Cape Eastcliff is nowhere near the biggest in the country but it did see a recent expansion allowing for a military school.
Terminology
Morning Star: An official elected by The Constellation that governs a province
High Star: The highest elected officials in the country
The Constellation: A senate where the High Stars make governmental decisions and vote on various issues
Lodestar: The divine ruler of Manena, addressed as Your Luminescence. These days they are more of a figurehead than anything, though they get a vote in The Constellation and they are also the leader of the Order of the Moon. Most let the Major General and Mother run the Order.
Order Keep: There is one in each capital. It’s where the children of the province go to learn about being mages and warriors before becoming full fledged Sisters and Brothers. They also house a church, infirmary, and primary school for children up to eleven years old.
Book of Moon: Holy book that chronicles stories about Manen and Her Demideity children, among other things, such as important rituals and holidays.
Mother: The highest Sister in the Order. They are the one that runs the Sisterhood and makes all decisions regarding mages and religion.
Major General: The Highest ranked Brother in the order. They are the one who runs the Brotherhood and the regular army. They make all decisions regarding the military.
Sister: A mage in the Sisterhood. Those in the Order are seen as siblings, children of Manen. Statistically, more women are mages, which is how they became known as Sisters. They are the teachers and religious leaders, and the public often forgets that they are also formidable mages.
Brothers: A warrior in the Brotherhood. Much like mages, warriors are statistically more likely to be men.
Heartstar: A loved one, usually family or close friends.
Soulstar: Can be romantic or platonic. Are said to be people written in the stars for each other. In actuality, they are the people most compatible with each other that cross each other’s paths in every timeline.
Audrey Simmons 