Gallery

Overview

Gath is a nation that does its best work after the sun goes down. They are the world’s best entertainers, information-gatherers, prostitutes and assassins, and are commonly associated with mysterious things that sparkle in the darkness: the Moon, the Stars, Currency & Trade, stained glass, illusions and crystal balls. Much of Gathic society is based around their system of Sckola Republika, which are considered to be the most strict and the most advanced schools of magic anywhere in Sharum Mal’Kari. Their tendency to spy on others and horde vast collections of sensitive information has earned them many enemies, but has bought them just as many blackmailed alliances; it has been said that the Selenic Republic has been playing a game of chess with itself since its inception, and it’s only a matter of time before they play themselves into a corner.

Geography

Gath has a wide range of natural geography, spanning from the wetlands of the east to the dry plains in the west; the cool mountains in the north and the humid Mediterranean of the south. Common to each of these climates is their signature gothic style of architecture and their massive stained glass windows. Most of the population in Gath is clustered into tightly packed cities, though there are some who prefer to live quieter lives in the countryside. These rural folk are looked down upon and not seen as equal to their urban brethren.

Geography

Settlements

Appearance

Gathic people dress either in all black or in outfits adorned with iridescent sequins and holographic detailing. Magical tattoos are extremely common here, and are often used to enhance, supplement or augment a mage’s natural abilities.

Military & Diplomacy

Gath is a nation of knowledge and entertainment. Officially, Gath does not have its own military force and is only allowed to have a defensive national guard. Unofficially, it is known that Sckola Republika are war colleges as well, and nearly every Gathic mage learns to wield and master one or more combat spells. However, they are required to be separate from Gathic military forces and are forbidden from joining Gathic national guard. Gathic Sckola Republika maintain a neutrality policy, but it isn’t unusual to see at least one or two of Gath’s mages serving either side of an international dispute.

Despite these international requirements that Gath has agreed to follow, it is also true that Gath maintains control over their mages through their blood. At the end of the day, a Gathic mage is never truly neutral, for as long as their Magister still holds their phylactery, they ultimately answer to their command. In spite of these diplomatic complications, through their education and scholarship, Gathic mages are considered some of the most educated members of society and as such may sometimes function as advisers in royal courts.

Magic & Faith

Magic of all types are taught in Gath, though some are certainly more popular than others. Gath is the best place in the world to study divination magic, and is the most common place to worship Ziyad or Raizin.

Education & Technology

Gath is famous for their network of magical academies known as “Sckola Republika”. Gathic Sckola Republika are allowed to take any child (usually age six to twelve) from their families as soon as they show signs of magical ability, including those from royal and noble bloodlines. As such, Gathic highborn children who are able to use magic will lose all claims to their family’s estates and titles when they are taken. Upon joining a Sckola, mages undergo a process of having a few drops of their blood taken by their Magister and place in a phylactery. This ensures the mages’ compliance, and enables the ability to track down any mage who decides to run away.

The child is then raised and trained by the Sckola until they reach adulthood, at which time they must either undergo the Proving or be made Tranquil. The Proving is a secret rite of passage that the Sckola administers, without warning, to apprentice mages. Mages who fail are forced (or willingly volunteer) to go through the Rite of Tranquility. It is rumored that this rite has many side effects, including loss of a mage’s ability to dream, use magic, or even feel emotion. Tranquil are usually hired to handle and distribute Lyrium, since it is not thought to be dangerous to them and they are assumed to not experience the same temptation to use it that mages do.

A mage’s training consists of extensive study of lore and practice at harnessing and channeling magical energy. The students of Gath’s Sckola Republika are likely the most learned people in the world, though Seithran would challenge this claim. Early training is aimed at giving apprentices discipline and focus, which helps prevent inadvertent magical outbursts. Later, the apprentice learns the specific forms of common spells. Many apprentices demonstrate a talent or propensity for a particular school or type of magic, and are allowed or encouraged to focus their studies there.

The College of Magi, a council of Magisters in Gath, routinely convenes in the city of Eliya to discuss Sckola policy and elect new members of the Svya, or Saints, who function as headmasters of the Sckola Republika and participate in Gathic governance.

The daily life of a Gathic mage varies by Sckola. The apprentices of all Sckola Republika live communally and are taught in small classes. They are allowed no contact with their families or anyone from the outside with the exception of mail privileges. They pass their days studying and reading, with occasional periods of supervised outdoor exercise. The Sckola Republika provide for the new apprentices with standard issue robes, education, and room and board— the quality of which may vary.

Gathic mages who are not part of a Sckola are considered Apostates, and are hunted and killed or captured by Templars if discovered. Mages who flee from the Sckola are also considered Apostates and are either killed or brought back to the Sckola by the Templars. With enough secrecy, it is possible for an apostate to integrate successfully into Gathic society, but it is more common for Apostates to flee and forever live on the run. Any Apostates that also practice forbidden forms of magic such as Hematomancy are at even greater risk of being hunted down and slain.

Family Life

The Gathic Sckola system plays a huge part in the family structure of the Selenic Republic. If magical talents develop in the heir of a wealthy family or family of noble blood, they will often go to great lengths to hide it— some even going as far as paying to have the child pre-maturely Tranquilized. However, if the child in question is further down the line of inheritance, it is seen as a great honor to have your second or third-born serve Gath as a mage and join the educated elite.

Conversely, if a poor family ends up with an unexpected child, they may go to great and terrible lengths to fake that child’s magical proficiencies, including in extreme cases choosing to dose the child with Lyrium or force them to participate in experimental rituals. This can sometimes be fueled by the fact that when a child is taken to a Sckola, the Gathic government pays the family a lump sum of gold in “restitution”, which varies depending on the proficiencies of the child; for particularly poor families, this sum can be more than they see in a year, or even more.

Romantic unions with mages are discouraged by the Sckola Republika, but that doesn’t stop the mages from carrying love affairs in secret. Should such an affair produce children while a mage is still studying at the Sckola, the child is taken to be raised by the Svya, or the Saints, so as to not disrupt the mage's education. Additionally, since part of a Templars duty is to keep a mage in “check”, romantic relationships between mages and Templars are explicitly forbidden…but are still known to occur, from time to time.

There is a particularly dark and largely unacknowledged practice in select brothels of intentionally attempting to impregnate women who have proven magical talents with the intention of generating income from their mage children. Templars are supposed to arrest those who engage in this illegal activity, but since Templars are also often patrons of these brothels, they rarely get shut down.

Naming Conventions

Gathic names are inspired by Russian names. Their full names tend to be quite long, with the family name written first, followed by the personal name, and then a patronymic name, which is a name based on the father’s name. The patronymic name is important as it’s polite to call somebody by their first and patronymic name; family names are only used in formal settings.. Many names have a short version which is used as a nickname; those names are listed in brackets. In reality, there are many versions of nicknames that are usually fairly similar to one another but might only be used in certain contexts. For example, one version may only be used by friends and family,  while another may only be used by lovers in private moments.

Family Names: Safiyulin, Lipin, Pechkin, Kosaryov, Vakhrushev, Madulin, Sedelnikova, Ostintseva, Portnova, Lukashenko

Personal Names: Aleksei (Alyosha), Valentin (Valya), Kostantin (Kostya), Grigoriy (Grisha), Eduard (Edik), Vadim (Vadik), Aleksandra (Sasha), Anastasia (Nastya), Svetlana (Sveta), Elena (Lena), Irina (Ira), Yegor (Jora), Mikhail (Misha)

Patronymic Names: Pavlovich, Danilovich, Zakhariovich, Yurievich, Sergeyevich, Olegovich, Vitalievich, Maximovna

Local NPC Compendium

· Ivin Slava Timofeyevich, mage

· Shirokov Luka Olegovich, mage

· Karina Vladislavovna, mage

· Yuriy (Yura) Vasilievich, mage

· Anastasia Nikolayevna, mage

Additional Details

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Story Notes

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