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dom6:phlegra-la [2024/05/22 19:02]
fenrir [National Special Features] |
dom6:phlegra-la [2024/05/22 20:12] (current)
fenrir lore bit (in-game description is moved to "General Overview") |
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| ===== Lore ===== | ===== Lore ===== |
| Phlegra is a kingdom of human slaves living in constant terror of the monstrous giants that once claimed the lands as theirs. For centuries the giants have been absent and only memories of their tyranny remain. Most of the Phlegran population are human slaves and slave masters dominated by a warrior-caste of Younger Cyclopes, previously living pastoral lives on the slopes of the Phlegran hills. The Tyrants who once ruled the land were descendants of the Gigantes of Mekone, who made war upon the gods of men. Punished for their sins the Gigantes were imprisoned and cursed with monstrous appearance. Those who avoided imprisonment became Tyrants and rulers of Phlegra and formed a slave kingdom with the aid of human servants. But the Tyrants destroyed each other and the very lands they ruled. Slowly their numbers and influence dwindled and their servants made themselves rulers in all but name. Now human slave masters rule the kingdom in the name of absent Tyrants, hoping that the sleeping giants never wake up. | Phlegra, as it is now, is a realm with three castes: a mage-priest elite, a warrior citizenry, and a large population of helot slaves. It calls back to the design of [[Mekone-ea|Mekone]], the City-State of Gold and Marble that Titan-born Gigantes made in an age long past, and this is most likely intentional. In those days, the elites and the warriors were largely of the same Gigante stock, though with Elder Cyclopes from [[therodos-ea|Telkhinis]] as the greatest mages. Then the Gigantes lost their reason, and their dignity, and eventually their form, following a disastrous declaration of War upon the Gods themselves... |
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| | The current Phlegra is a rump state of the original [[Phlegra-ma|Phlegra]], site of a government-in-exile for the defeated Mekone's Gigantes. The Gigantes had become tyrannical, either at this point or with the next generation, and that next generation was far more monstrous than what came before. Though unable to grasp their old ways, the Gigantes at least realized their deficiencies. Recognizing they were on the backfoot, they allowed the Elder Cyclopes to command the Younger Cyclopes of the Phlegran hills. Unable to understand old Mekonean writing, they welcomed Trophimoi (students) from the human realms to decipher it for them. This Phlegra was far less stable than Mekone, for the Phlegran Gigantes took far too many helotes, but the Trophimoi devised new means of holding the state together; one from [[pythium-ma|Pythium]], utilizing his old experience in the Theurgy and the enchanted blacksmithing of the Elder smiths, invented a means of coercion through mind-controlling headbands and shackles. |
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| | Eventually, however, the original Phlegra came apart. The Gigantes grew so monstrous and unreasonable that they became known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laestrygonians|Laestrygonians]], and they imprisoned and ate the Elder Cyclopes in their madness. Then they fought each other, and this gave the helotes (or perhaps some ambitious mind-controllers using them) the chance to rise up. With his kin driven underground, the last Laestrygonian with a Phlegran city had a brief moment of clarity and empowered the Cyclopes (both the Youngers and the descendants of the Elders) to clean up this mess. The rebellion in Telepylos was crushed; and then, like his kin, that last Tyrant went to sleep in the bowels of the earth. Now Phlegra exists for the Cyclopes; they care little for the affairs of humanity, as long as their martial prowess and (limited) acumen as generals are honored, and the new users of the Iron [[Communion|Communions]] may do what they want. Phelgra's human Oppressors rule with an iron fist, but they are powerless against the legend of the Laestrygonians, whose prophesized return keeps all but the Cyclopes up at night. |
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| //"Mekone and its successors are inspired by giants of Greek myth. Described either as strong and proud hoplites, or in later times, as monstrous beings with serpent legs, the idea of a nation of giants that doesn’t follow the development of most other giant nations, with smaller and smaller giants in the later ages, started to take form. ... I also wanted to incorporate the hubris of the giants and the Gigantomachia—the war against the gods—into the nation, which in turn created the backstory for the middle and late age versions of the nation. \\ \\ | //"Mekone and its successors are inspired by giants of Greek myth. Described either as strong and proud hoplites, or in later times, as monstrous beings with serpent legs, the idea of a nation of giants that doesn’t follow the development of most other giant nations, with smaller and smaller giants in the later ages, started to take form. ... I also wanted to incorporate the hubris of the giants and the Gigantomachia—the war against the gods—into the nation, which in turn created the backstory for the middle and late age versions of the nation. \\ \\ |
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| ===== General Overview ===== | ===== General Overview ===== |
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| | //Phlegra is a kingdom of human slaves living in constant terror of the monstrous giants that once claimed the lands as theirs. For centuries the giants have been absent and only memories of their tyranny remain. Most of the Phlegran population are human slaves and slave masters dominated by a warrior-caste of Younger Cyclopes, previously living pastoral lives on the slopes of the Phlegran hills. The Tyrants who once ruled the land were descendants of the Gigantes of Mekone, who made war upon the gods of men. Punished for their sins the Gigantes were imprisoned and cursed with monstrous appearance. Those who avoided imprisonment became Tyrants and rulers of Phlegra and formed a slave kingdom with the aid of human servants. But the Tyrants destroyed each other and the very lands they ruled. Slowly their numbers and influence dwindled and their servants made themselves rulers in all but name. Now human slave masters rule the kingdom in the name of absent Tyrants, hoping that the sleeping giants never wake up.// - in-game description |
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| If you are considering picking this nation to play, what should you know? | If you are considering picking this nation to play, what should you know? |
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