A'Valuron

The High Island Empire of A'Valuron
A'Valuron translation from old A'Vali: "Of the High Ones"

The A’Valuron’e are a nation of proud, humanoid elves who live on a group of islands floating above and in the grand sea.

History
Its citizens claim that the islands of A'Valuron was molded by hand by the High One to be the chosen land of his people. This in turn has made the elves that inhabit this nation a prideful people, ready to defend their lands with holy conviction. A'Valuron has had a turbulent history with the other Heresian nations, specifically Ifasteo with whom a number of bloody and drawn out wars for territory and religion has been fought.

A'Valuron also conducted 12 crusades around Heresia to spread the word of their High One, and strike down the people they claimed to be "heathens". These had a varying degree of success.

A'Valuron was an active participant in the Celestial War and became infamous for their ruthless fleet and success in ship to ship combat. But after the Celestial War the people claim to have recieved a vision from Aluron, who commanded them to instead pursue the path of peace.

Religion
The A'Valuron'e are devout followers of their guardian deity often simply referred to as the "High One" in regular conversation or as Aluron in more formal settings such as holy gatherings. The word of Aluron is absolute and refusal to follow his very rare orders to the A'Valuron'e is punishable by death.

There exists no such thing as religious freedom in A'Valuron. All other religions are strictly outlawed, with harsh punishments for those who break these laws.

An estimated 94% of the population is religious, regularly attending prayer ceremonies.

Geography and resources
The A’Valuron’e territory is comprised of a large amount of islands of varying size, both in the ocean and in the air. The capital is Aeira and is situated on a close group of 3 oceanic isles and 2 large floating ones. The floating isles houses the upper districts in all their glory. The streets are always kept clean and are lined with an abundance of beautiful buildings housing everything from luxury ship showfloors to high end designer fashion. Both the luxury ships and A’Valuron’e clothing is famous across the Solaris system for their beautiful design and high quality.

The resources on the islands themselves were exhausted many years ago and now resources are instead mined from the bottom of the sea. The most mined resource is Heresian Coralsteel. ( Theitina ) While it’s a very durable, valuable and beautiful material it’s nowhere as sought after as the rare Veralian Coralsteel.

The inhabitants enjoy a high standard of life thanks to the economic success of A’Valuron. Ships, fashion and law/diplomatic services are the largest and most profitable industries and exports. A number of shipyards are located on the various floating islands, with a few being located in orbit, fixed over the territory.

Politics and relations
The Island empire of A’Valuron is one the most powerful nations on Heresia and has been an economic powerhouse for many centuries. It’s a representative democracy with the current Head of State being placeholder. The head of state, when elected, assigns members to the High Council. The High Council is the highest ruling entity with its 27 members being assigned different tasks. But most decisions are voted on in the Public Council, in which 350 elected politicians sit, representing different parties and opinions. If the High Council is seen as incompetent or treasonous, the Public Council can, with a 70% majority, force the current High Council to step down. This has only happened once.

They are also excellent and famous diplomats. The Paradei Accord, which made Paradei a safe haven and collaborative effort for the races of Solaris, was initiated and led by A’Valurons diplomats.

Other trivia.
The elves of A’Valuron tend to often bond with birds or other flying creatures.

A’Valuron trains many skilled pilots at their military academy, which in turn makes up most of the A’Valuron’e army. But it is not a military nation.

The Al'Eh ( High Elves )
A’Valuron houses the last remaining population of the so called “High Elves”. The high elves are believed to be direct descendants of the High One himself and have very distinct characteristics. They possess incredibly long lifespans, often living up towards 300-400 years.

The Al’Eh often occupy high positions, such as CEOs or politicians. The current Head of State is an Al’Eh.

Forsaken
If an Al'Eh is born without a connection to Aluron they will lack the common visual characteristics of a regular Al'Eh. It has been speculated that these "Forsaken" instead gain a connection to Heresia herself and become incredibly sensitive to minute changes to Heresia's ecology and geology.

Forsaken are seen as a very bad omen and ancient tradition advocate for them to be thrown off the isles as soon as they are born. However, there has been cases of reportedly adult Forsaken roaming Heresia which have presumably survived being exiled from A'Valuron.

Appearance
All A’Eh have white/grey hair, often worn in intricate and complicated braids. They also have golden irises and pupils, their sclera being a darker grey.

Forsaken often gain more natural hair and intense green eyes, speculated to be a side effect from their intense connection with Heresia.

Only the pureblood Al’Eh have these unique eyes. The “halfbreeds” often only inherit the white/grey hair.

See example images of three purebloods and one halfblood.