Ophelia

Ophelia is an ancient kingdom known for its chivalrous knights and highly religious citizens.

History

Decades before the mage city-states united and Preludero brought the Harmonians out of their tribal life style, the Kingdom of Ophelia had already risen.  Setting down the basis of chivalry and acting with a mandate from God, they drove goblins, orcs and dragons from their land to create a prosperous kingdom that has lasted for centuries. 

In more recent times, the last king of Ophelia passed away, leaving his daughter, Liliana, as queen. She would also become the last queen, wielding her sword of the Lightwell against the evil forces of the Nether before becoming trapped there.  In her absence, Lord Kaynen Regibrook proclaimed himself Lord-Protector of Ophelia, and served as ruler for a short time.  Due to more recent events, however, Queen Liliana gained her freedom, and made her way back to Ophelia, and Brienne, where she discovered Lord Regibrook's many sins. However, the queen showed him some mercy, giving him a second chance while banishing him back to his own land holdings, to administer them justly for once.  Since that time Liliana has worked greatly to bring her country back to a shining example of purity and goodness.

Races

Ophelia is populated primarily by humans, with a few elven families (and half-elves) scattered throughout the territories. There is also a resident tribe of kobolds who have sworn fealty to Ophelia.  Due to the country's close ties with the Angelic faith, Aasimar citizens are relatively common as well.

Government

Traditionally, Ophelia is a feudal monarchy, with the eldest child of the king or queen ascending to the throne in the traditional line of succession. When the last queen Liliana disappeared without leaving an heir, the country was ruled over by Lord-Protector Kaynen Regibrook.  With Liliana's recent return, Regibrook has been deposed as a tyrant and villain, and the Queen has re-taken her throne.

Culture

Chivalry

The people of Ophelia have a long history of chivalry, with the knights and lords being held to a high standard of honor.  This has led to a major world-wide respect for Ophelia.  However in recent years some of that respect has waned, as many knights have abused their priviledge and a good number of others have begun focusing more on business, making money no matter who gets hurt. 

Tournaments

While tourneys and jousts are popular in many nations, they are a special part of Ophelian culture.  Tournaments in Ophelia are great affairs, with a bit of a fair going on around the battles, selling food and other things.  The tournament scene is a great source of economic growth for Ophelia and a distraction for the peasant class from their mundane lives.

Religion

The original faith of Ophelia is the worship of the angels of Heaven.  There are many churches, temples, and shrines throughout the nation devoted to the worship of the angels, with entire churches sometimes being devoted to worshipping a single angel.  More recently, however, a new religion has grown, in worship of the missing Queen Liliana.  The New Ophelian Faith has quickly gained a large amount of followers, not just among the devoutly religious but also among those especially loyal to the monarchy.  While initially treated as a cult, as the number of worshippers grew in size, Lord-Protector Regibrook officially recognized the New Ophelian Faith as a religion, in order to avoid a religious civil war.

Military

The core power of Ophelia's military comes from its knights and paladins.  Noble defenders of the people and the faith, they are trained from a young age in martial skills, horsemanship, and military tactics.  The Aurum wielded by the paladins of Ophelia has been especially effective at driving off the more chaotic races of creatures that have attempted to invade the kingdom over the decades.

Apart from the knights themselves, the nobles of Ophelia tend to raise peasant levies when they need to go off to war.  These can range from farmers and other commoners eager to earn some extra coin by serving in the army to crusaders taken by religious fervor to defend their country.  They are generally lightly outfitted with weapons from their lord's personal armories, which they rent from them for the duration of the campaign.

An Ophelian Dragon Knight.

An additional element of note in the Ophelian war machine is the Order of Dragon Knights.  This is a special organization of kobold knights native to Ophelia.  Generations ago, these kobolds became more intelligent than other members of their race, and assisted the humans of Ophelia in slaying the dragon they had been enslaved by. Since then, the Dragon Knights have been loyal and respected citizens of Ophelia, training their skills to be highly adept at slaying dragons.

Navy

See also: Royal Ophelian Navy

The Navy of the nation of Ophelia is one of the most powerful in the world.  Due to the sea-faring nature of the kingdom and its access to many rivers and lakes, the monarchy felt it necessary to make a mighty naval force in order to defend its people.  While there are some knights associated with the navy, most of its officers are non-knighted nobles and distinguished commoners.  While discipline and an attitude related to Ophelian Chivalry is expected on the vessels, many of the non-officers are no better than peasant levies.

Holdings

The regions of Ticondera, Antioch, Ealtrong, Vysanus.  Major cities include the capital of Brienne, Cairell, and Cassingham.

Locations

See also: Locations in Ophelia

Brienne

The capital city, currently under the lordship of Kaynen Regibrook.

Cairell

A religious town where the New Ophelian Faith was born.  The Caroway family are the lords in Cairell.

Cassingham

A town near Cairell.

Pinegrove

A village in Antioch.

Port Iceguard

A northern city, responsible for harvesting ice and whaling for Ophelia.  Lorded over by Sir Horace Poisson.

Queensvale

A fairly large town under the rule of the Lytton family.

Briar Glen

A village in a forest under guard by the Huntswells.

Dawnwater

A town built next to a lake.  Jacques du'Soleileau is the lord of Dawnwater.

Cedarbrook

A town near a small stream, defended by Sir Francis Cedreflux.

Allegiances

Ophelia is engaged in a three-way economic alliance with Taneria and the Mage Republic.  They are friendly with the growing BloodCross Crusade and have a healthy rivalry with the nation of Marissa.

Notable Citizens

See also: List of Ophelian Families

Queen Liliana of Ophelia

The last queen of Ophelia, and last monarch as well.  Ascending to the throne at a relatively young age, she worked as hard as she could to govern her people justly while fending off greedy suitors with eyes for her throne.  During her reign, the castle at Brienne was attacked by a crazed scientist, and she retrieved the sacred sword forged from the Lightwell Sword to defend her people.  She succeeded, but her attack resulted in a breach of space, exposing the violent Nether to Midgard.  Feeling the need to protect her people once again, but saddened that she may not be able to return to them, Lily travelled through the hole in the sky to aid the other guardians of Midgard in putting a stop to Ez-Azal.  While they succeeded, she was trapped on the dying plane.  Instead of dying however, the power of her sword activated with the hopes and support of the people of Ophelia, and she ascended into a sort of pseudo-god, migrating to a demiplane from which she continues to draw energy from her peoples' faith and return it to them as miracles.

Lord-Protector Kaynen Regibrook

The marquis of Regibrook, Kaynen is a power-hungry Ophelian noble.  After Queen Liliana disappeared, Kaynen stepped in to lead the kingdom and keep it from falling into chaos.  While on the surface he is kind and altruistic, in truth Lord Kaynen seeks total control of Ophelia and its people.  He works to achieve this goal through the manipulation of news, utilizing criminal elements loyal to him, and putting his followers in positions of political power.  He has also been instrumental in Taneria's new found slavery ring.  After his son's death at the hands of Aria and Samba d'Harmonia, he has fallen into a depression, and seeks a new wife to ensure that he has a son to follow in his footsteps after he is gone.

Sir Calyn Marris

The youngest son of Marquis Marris was raised on stories of chivalrous knights and the greatness exhibited by the Ophelian monarchy.  When he was old enough he went to squire for the paladins at the Cathedral of The Angels in Brienne.  There he received training in the martial skills of a knight as well as the power to draw out and express Holy power and Aurum, the latter of which he possesses little talent for.  However, on the eve of his knighting, he found Marquis Regibrook's son, Feron, accosting a peasant girl.  Not knowing who he was, Calyn immediately struck Feron.  This act alone made Brienne unsafe for Calyn to remain in, and he was quickly knighted and sent on a mission to investigate the New Ophelian Faith in Cairell.  When he arrived at their first church he was taken in by their beliefs, and after a vision from The Queen herself, he pledged himself to the young religion and the protection of all people.

While naturally talented in divine magic and swordplay, Sir Calyn is something of a pacifist at heart, and seeks every possible avenue he can ahead of taking a life.  This is often at the cost of his own safety, and is an action seen foolish by almost everyone around him.  Calyn however sticks to his convictions, believing that no person is too far gone to be saved.  To date he has only taken two lives.