Minaea
by Marco Dalmonte English translation by Gary DaviesAsterius - Wealth, trade, travel, guile, thieves, messengers
Protius - Oceans and marine creatures, water, capriciousness, travel
Utnapishtim - Survival, travel, justice, protection of living species
Rathanos - Male supremacy, pride, power, fire, energy
Ninsun - Magic, fertility, agriculture, prosperity, knowledge
Valerias - Love, desire, fertility, arts
Khoronus - Knowledge, history, philosophy, good government, patience, diplomacy
Pater (Kagyar) - -Crafts, metallurgy, sculpture, construction, miners
Ixion - Light, sun, strength, knowledge, war, balance, oppose evil
Karaash - Humanoids, war, victory, conquest, tactics, strength
Kiranjo - Greed, violence, fury, cruelty, massacre, minotaurs
Ka - Wisdom, protection, healing, prosperity, knowledge, magic, rakasta, stone giants
Ninfangle - Rakasta, hunting, bravery, travel, adventure, battle
Ranivorus - Gnoll, madness, raiding, destruction, hate
Notes:
1. The Minaean Coast is found in a temperate area made up for the most by brief beaches with deep sea floors, which is made up of bays and extremely comfortable landing points. Within of the region instead extends a thick evergreen forest, with small deforested areas in order to make space for cultivated fields and pastoral areas. Minaea is found to the south-southwest of Jen and reaches from the Sea of Zamara to the north, unto Tangor Bay to the south, licked by water on three fronts (the Sea of Zamara to the northwest, Bellissarian Sea to the south-west) and delimited by the great Jennite plains to the east. The Minaean Coast is principally occupied by a mixed ethnic group of Jennites and Milenians, who arrived in Skothar following the long migration from decadent Milenia between the I century BC and the year zero. The Milenians brought their own advanced knowledge and amalgamated themselves with the local population of Oltec descent, giving life to the Minaeans, with a darker complexion of that Milenian olive but with a language and culture not too dissimilar to that of ancient Milenia. The most internal regions of the Minaean Forest are populated by groups of primitive and savage Tangor, arriving from southern Skothar in the centuries following the great volcanic eruptions that formed the Tangor Peninsula; by tribes of rakasta (pardasta and cloud pardasta) originally from the area; by minotaurs and by humanoids (orcs, gnolls, goblins and hobgoblins) arrived around 700 BC, after a long migration departing from Brun.
2. Minaea is a democratic monarchy, with the sovereign who administers and watches the territory and enjoys the support and the vassalage of the scattered communities for the region. The King of Minaea (whose office is hereditary) has the power of controlling the national militia and administering the territories that aren’t located in the jurisdictions of the various provinces (the so-called wild lands), as well as of imposing taxes on the local governors and judging the actions. The sovereign lives in the capital, Minaea, a great fortified city with splendid palaces and a modern system of aqueducts and drains (heritage from the Milenian knowledge), which was founded on the coast near to the mouth of the Minos River by the first Milenians arriving in 100 BC. For their part, the independent locals are free to make laws to their liking on the territory and must maintain a citizen militia with which to protect the inhabitants. Every province is made up of many independent settlements: the smallest are governed thanks to an assembly made up of all the citizens that have the right (that is adult males that practice a profession or possess land), while in the more populous communities (over 1000 individuals) the inhabitants with the right to vote to elect an assembly of representatives for ruling it, to which is added a supervisor nominated by the monarch who has control over the course of political, social and economic life and reports to the King (his vote in the assembly counts exactly like those of the others). Minaea is especially famous for its pirates, but piracy is not the rule among the Minaeans, only one of the ways that have chosen some of the coastal communities in order to fill their own exchequers and favouring their own prosperity. No King of Minaea has ever spoken out against the acts of piracy, since it constitutes a good source of profit and also of enrichment for his tills. Therefore, Minaea pursues an aggressive and despotic foreign policy, which the Minaean king does nothing to prevent, towards its Bellissarian and Alphatian neighbours - who largely put up with it..
3. Asterius is the principal patron of the Kingdom of Minaea, considered the Immortal who gave wealth to those that have shown enough subtlety and resolve to merit it. In this sense many pirates and thieves openly worship Asterius, who enjoys great fame in many of the most important cities and is considered the protector of the royal dynasty. His cult, together with those of many other Immortals, was imported by the Milenians who arrived in the area in 100 BC and who subsequently were shown as the dominant ethnic group that laid the basis for the foundation of the kingdom.
4. The cult of Protius is extremely popular especially in the coastal cities, since the sea constitutes the principal source of profit for the Minaeans, not only for he pirates but also for the fishermen and merchants, which forms the backbone of the economy. It is therefore necessary to gain favour with the lord of the sea and pray to him so that it brings wealth and protection to those that are adventuring in the dominion.
5. Utnapishtim and Ninsun are two cults of Jennite derivation that have been assimilated into Minaean society, and that enjoy a large following especially in the hinterlands as patrons of justice, salvation, fertility and magic. Rathanos also belongs to the Jennite tradition and has found as discreet following in the Minaean society, given that his followers are able to heavily influence the political order of the country (the reins of power are held only and exclusively by the men). Diverse priestesses of Ninsun however have created in the last centuries an opposition to the prevailing machismo in the Minaean society, but their battles haven’t given great results apart from creating some communities ruled by priestesses.
6. Valerias, Khoronus, Pater (Kagyar) and Ixion are other Immortals of Milenian derivation that nevertheless have found places in the Minaean pantheon. Of particular importance is Valerias, considered the Immortal of love, fertility and the arts, and Pater, Immortal of mysteries and the arts that instils talents on the worthy followers.
7. Karaash, Ranivorus and Kiranjo are the protectors of all the humanoids (orcs, gnolls, goblins and hobgoblins) that live in the Minaean Forest and that fight against the Minaean government, seeking to remain independent raid and plunder the merchants along the principal routes that connect the various cities. Kiranjo is furthermore the patron of minotaurs, a race that occupies the southernmost part of the coast, where they have built a fortified enclave from which they launch attacks by sea against the other coastal cities both of Skothar and Bellissaria.
8. Ka is the racial Immortal worshipped by all the pardasta rakasta that live integrated in the Minaean society. However, the majority of the Minaean rakasta (cloud pardasta and Harimau-Belang sherkasta) live outside of the territory claimed by the kingdom, and visit the human settlements for commercial exchanges and barter. The pardasta are followers of Ninfangle and Ka, while the Harimau-Belang sherkasta are famous for their ferocity and their organised raids both by land and by sea, and are considered such a threat by the Minaeans and by the tanagogre, as much by their pardasta cousins. The Harimau-Belang have revised the cult of Ninfangle into a more belligerent and markedly racist way (hunting all those that themselves prey on the weaker), and the current gossip is that the more ruthless pirates absolutely worship Kiranjo.
9. The savage Tangor of the Minaean Forest follow a spiritualistic religion and worship the spirits of nature and those of their ancestors. Their mythos is therefore a mix of shamanic and druidic traditions, and they rarely consider at the same level (thus with divine rank) also the members of the Faerie People that regularly visit their settlements.
10. The Minaean pirates don’t have much interest in moral or religious questions, but those that pray usually chose as a patron Korotiku, Saturnius or Kiranjo (based on their more or less evil morals).