Avakaron
Avakaron
In the eastern expanse of Winhem’s verdant Steppes, where the whispers of the White Wood Forest fade into the sonorous chants of the ocean, lies Avakaron. A gem cradled by the sea, Avakaron is the heart of the Hellbend people—a sanctuary for those descended from the banished kin of Anore. This city, with its structures of pale sandstone and salt-scarred birch wood, stretches from the western beaches to the bluffs overlooking the vast, undulating embrace of the ocean.
Avakaron is a beautiful oceanside city that is home to the majority of Winhem Hellbends. The Hellbends are a religious and close-knit race, and their city represents those two important ideals. Avakaron is a place of safety for the banished Anorians, and the city is very community-focused.
Avakaron is located to the east of the White Wood Forest in Winhem’s Eastern Steppes. The city resides on the northern coastline of the continent, north of the Triangle Lakes. The city expands from a western beachside, east up a slow-inclining oceanside bluff. Avakaron is a diverse city with many Hellbends with different focuses and a large variety of skillsets. Overall their main talents include ocean fishing, sailing, glasswork, and magical abilities.
While Hellbends are the main race and make up the vast and overwhelming majority of citizens within its borders, Humans have become a not so uncommon sight in Avakaron. When the Humans and Hellbends made contact many years ago, the two groups became trusting with each other, and some brave and curious Humans have made the trek across the plains and forest from Lysium, to witness the strange Hellbend people.
Government
The government of Avakaron is loose in terms of law and order. The people are mainly trusted to do the right thing or deal with their own issues. With the introduction of Humans, crime has seen a slight increase and so the religious order that governs Avakaron will step in on Human related issues. Any government group can find their headquarters in The Tower of Avakaron.
The people of Avakaron look up the Champions Sect as their guides in the city. The Sect is made up of a select few members, with the numbers willing to range and change from three to five or even seven at one point in history. The members are highly recognized people of the city who are greatly and obviously favored by any of the twenty-seven gods and goddesses that now rule over Siliren. These members rule over the many temples within Avakaron, as well as serve as deciders on new laws, disputes, or other matters more pressing and severe than the normal population may be able to handle. The Sect also overlooks the combative and defensive positions within the city, though there are few.
Within the Avakaron government is also the Ministry of Casters, a larger group of people who have abilities in Rigen and magic. The heads of this group also range in number but are always members of the city that show great skill in one or more different Rigen Spells. While the Ministry normals self governs, they do look up to the Champions Sect for final decisions on important matters. The Sect has also been known to step in and make a final decision in Ministry matters without provocation. The Ministry of Caster’s main job is regulating and documenting the numerous casters that reside in Avakaron, as well as serving as the main educator base of Rigen. Any person, Human or Hellbend, that reside in the city and are gifted in Rigen, or looking to be, are known and cataloged by this group.
Learn more details about the Avakaron government here.
Architecture
Avakaron is built nearly entirely out of wood from the White Wood Forest, as it is the closest and simplest form of building material available to the Hellbends. Some structures, notably the Tower of Avakaron, or simply, The Tower, floors, or paved city walkways, are made of sandstone from the nearby beaches. Other than these materials the only other common one is glass for windows or decorative glass art for temples and businesses.
With the light pink sandstone and white salt-scarred birch wood making up the vast majority of buildings in the city, Avakaron has a very light and oceany palette of colors to represent the city. As a very close-knit race, nearly all buildings are one form or another of wooden longhouses. Families live within huge longhouses that home not just an immediate family, but extensions on extensions of the extended family as well. Temples are grand creations that are home to many gods, instead of just one, and businesses are often connected into one large building with open-air walkways between them. It is more common than uncommon to buy fish in the same building as meat and farm goods, all from different sellers. The Hellbends believe in community, and this type of building keeps them close. This large building tradition also leaves a lot of the city to open-air areas, with walkways, parks, and general open land, abundant.
As well as large community buildings; walls, fences, and other dividing structures are nearly non-existent except in the cases of animal containment. Citizens are welcome to walk nearly everywhere, uninhibited, within the city, and land or property ownership only applies to structured buildings.
Race Relations
Hellbends themselves are very open and honest people. They see their kind as banished people, and because of this, they welcome their kind in all forms. While most Hellbends of Winhem are located and reside in Avakaron, there are some small outlying villages. Avakaron considers these outliers as part of the whole, and so any Hellbends that travel from the countryside and into the city are welcomed openly. Within the city, there are around 150,000 Hellbend citizens, with around 50,000 more in the surrounding countryside.
In Year 73, the Humans discovered the Hellbends, and vise versa. Since this meeting, Hellbends and Humans have more openly wandered the continent of Winhem, and explored each other’s cities and settlements. While Hellbends are more common in Human cities than Humans are in Hellbend locations, they still exist, roughly one human to around one thousand Hellbends. Most Humans who travel to Avakaron are merchants or those wishing to learn the ways of Rigen and Spellcasting. As the only race that this city is currently in contact with, the Humans are very welcomed in the city. The Hellbends enjoy learning about the world they now reside in, and the Humans seem to appreciate the long-awaited enlightenment of what happened to their home.
History
The newly formed Hellbends fled nearly immediately after coming to Siliren. A small group found each other going east and managed to survive the new world until they settled on the coast of Winhem. The original settlers of the to-be-named Avakaron were few and focused on plain survival in this completely new world. Thankfully, fishing was not much different than on their home planet of Anore and so the Hellbends easily survived off the ocean. The few settlers soon found some ground and built a small, but permanent, home.
Because the Hellbends were all ‘made’ from Rigen manipulation and born different Anorian races, they did not know what to expect when it came to creating a new generation. However, it was not long before it was discovered that the Hellbends were now a brand new race that could reliably reproduce. From there the city slowly grew and expanded on the coast.
Once the city and population were large enough that the citizens did not have to solely focus on their survival, they expanded on their interests. Rigen energy in Siliren behaves much differently than it did in Anore, and so the Spells these Anorians knew, no longer worked. In order to learn effectively, the interested Hellbends formed a Guild, called Avakaraon – or ‘Bond of the People’ in Rigarian – to explore the magical capabilities of this new world. As the city grew and began to expand, the Guild was elevated and changed into the Ministry of Casters, and the old name of the Guild was rebranded as the name of the new, thriving, city.
The Champions Sect was formed after the Ministry of Casters but was placed above them in the authority line because of the priorities of the Hellbend people. While the Hellbends love magic and the exploration of it, the Gods and Goddess of Anore are more vital to their daily life and are considered the ultimate authority on all things. Therefore those closest to the Gods were placed at the top of the government, despite being formed nearly fifteen years after the Ministry of Casters.
Just a few years later the Human and Hellbend populations within Winhem met and spurred the Hellbends to explore the entirety of Winhem, learning about and discovering Siliren, allowing them to expand their city as well as their settlements. Learn more about the history of Avakaron and the Hellbend Winhem population on the Avakaron History page.
Currency
The city of Avakaron mainly uses the currency of Skerricks, that are made within the city. However the city also usually accepts the Human Currency of Rounds. While currency such as these are used within the city, barter, and trade are still very common practices, and at times are often more popular than exchanging coins. Hellbend settlements outside of Avakaron boundaries, but still within Wihem, mainly use this practice as well, but Skerricks are also accepted.
Map
Avakaron is the main city of the Hellbend people. The city by the shore consists mainly of more spread out, large buildings that have more than one purpose. Check out the Avakaron Map Lore Article to see a more detailed map with links to existing locations.