Adela
| Adela | |
| Capital | Ketra |
|---|---|
| Ethnic groups | 85% Adelan, 7% Serenian, 5% Essyrni, 3% Other |
| Demonym | Adelan |
| Colors | Red, Black, and Gold |
| Emblem | A red dragon rampant ringed with gold on a field of black |
| Government | Feudal monarchy |
Adela is the youngest of the Three Kingdoms. It controls the largest land area of any nation, but is also the most sparsely populated due to its heavily forested and mountainous terrain. It is the southernmost kingdom, bordering Serendipity and stretching eastward to the Hivan Ocean. It's southern border juts up against the Serha Plains but it's western boarder remains lost and indistinct where the Thunderblacks meet the Niahi Woods.
Ketra, Adela's capital city, lies upon the great Ora River in the center of the kingdom. Most other cities are along the coast and the river, while numerous small towns and villages remain largely isolated due to the difficult terrain.
Adelans come from a fractured, tribal background. They value community, strength, and tradition.
Religion
Adelans are traditionally animistic. It is the common belief in Adela that everything has a spirit, including not only animals and people but also objects and places such as stones, rivers, and valleys. Abstract ideas also have spirits, ideas such as love, luck, navigation, or fortune. The idea of balance is central to the Adelan worldview, as well as the belief that every person and spirit has a role to fulfill. Preserving the balance of the world depends on everyone and everything performing their role successfully. This also informs Adelan gender roles, which are well-defined. Women and men, as all other creatures, have their roles and should not stray from them.
Adelans believe that words, symbols, and actions all have power, and it is through these acts that they honor spirits and maintain balance in life. Adelans have no organized religious service. Rather, their rituals are integrated into daily life—into their actions, clothes, the objects in their house, and the words they speak. Wrong are righted in the same way, through these ritualized actions. It should be noted that there is a marked difference between worship and honor. Adelans do not worship their patron spirits, but instead pay them respect and honor. It is perfectly acceptable to bargain with spirits and ask them for things one wants. It would be, for instance, a typical action to tell a unresponsive fortune spirit that if it does not begin to bring wealth to your tribe, you will remove its shrine from your home and pay homage to a different spirit instead.
Most villages and tribes in Adela will have certain patron spirits, those whom they honor above all others and who are thought to aid that tribe exclusively. These tribal patrons are usually tied to the geographic area the village resides in—the forest that surrounds them for example, or a sheltering mountain, or an unusual feature like a large boulder or underground lake. This trend extends to individual homes, with people having spirits who they favor and who are thought to favor them in return. Even the largest cities and towns will have public shrines erected for residents to pay homage to a particularly powerful local spirit.
Dragons hold a particular significance in the Adelan worldview. They are seen as keystones, creatures who's very existence holds the world in balance. Adelans have honored them since their pre-history, and continue to do so. Killing a dragon is a grievous sin against righteousness itself and a crime punishable by death. A market exists in Adela for dragon scales and teeth as good luck charms—purportedly shed naturally, but vendors willing to take the risk will buy from poachers.
