Havod

Havod is the geographically largest of the nations in Antumnos, and home to the booakers. This nation boasts luscious fields and a community feeling in every town. The central town of Mynach is where the Council House can be found, the meeting place of all the Councillors of Havod.

Their main trades are bovine products - meat, leather and dairy - as well as agricultural and botanical produce.

The ley lines that flow through Havod have given the booakers the ability to communicate with the dead, giving them a rich appreciation of life and death.

The religion of the booakers is mostly a form of ancestral veneration, believing that only when a person is forgotten do they truly die. The idea of a grave being unmarked is abhorrent. Many homes will have a family altar, which is added to every time a family member dies, usually through adding a portrait. Offerings are given frequently, and each year the community hosts a celebration called Calan Gaeaf, where all the gravestones of the town are decorated, feasts are brought to the graveyard, and everyone dances and celebrates the memories of those lost. It is said that often, the spirits of the dead are able to transcend to the mortal plane, and can celebrate with their families (so long as they’re remembered). Some booakers, who are more in tune with the ability of necromancy, claim to be able to see these spirits.

Each village or town has an elected Councillor, who travels to the most central settlement, Mynach, regularly to discuss politics with the rest of the Council. Everything is decided by a vote, with a majority of 60% to win.

They do not have a formal military, as booakers are too widely spread across the country, and the main threat they have is from wild animals seeking an easy meal from their livestock.

That being said, it is believed that there is a secret military programme run by the Council, one that trains their members to be better than even the might of the gwyllion of Llanhythel. There are many stories of booakers being approached by fae in black cloaks, and soon enough they leave their home never to be seen again. The Council has remained silent on this matter.

Booakers can use Necromancy which allows them to commune with and command the dead. In addition to simpler necromantic incantations, booakers may perform a powerful ritual known as Ancestral Communion, which grants a voice to the dead. Through this ritual, booakers may call forth long-dead loved ones, seek guidance from their ancestors, and uncover long-forgotten secrets… though all who learn this ritual are warned that the dead may yet have their own agendas, and accepting every word as truth has led many well-intentioned booakers astray.

Booakers also possess an innate affinity for the element of Dark and an innate weakness to the element of Light.

To play a booaker, the best way to represent this is by creating a mottled effect on your skin. This would typically cover a booaker's whole body, but isn't necessary, and can just be shown on the face. To achieve this look, you would use a stippling brush with red and purple tones in a patchy and irregular pattern resembling marble.

Some booakers may also have prominent veins on their faces, an effect you can achieve by drawing vein-like structures around your eyes, nose and mouth with makeup darker than your skin tone.

Clothing for booakers would be typical of medieval peasants, made from wools, cottons and linens. Colours would be a mixture of blacks and bright natural shades such as orange, green and red.

Armour for the booakers is typically dark brown leather, sometimes decorative. These pieces would likely have been passed down the generations, and would not have seen much in the way of battle.

Weapons would be heavily ranged, such as bows and spears, as they would normally be kept for warding predators away from their livestock. Some swords may have also been passed down for generations, but again would not have been used much in battle. Booakers may also use knives, axes and clubs - simple weapons that can also be used in farming.

If a booaker is wearing black leather, which is very rare, it is believed that they are part of an elite training regimen - this, however, has never been proven.

Jones Ashley

Honouring one’s family is important for the booakers, and they will use their family name first for introductions and formal situations. Given names can often be found repeating within the same family throughout generations. Surnames are passed through the maternal line as an acknowledgment of the mothers’ ability to bear life.

While booakers may have a range of viewpoints on the world and their fellow Bendith, here are some commonly held attitudes towards other nations:

The korrigans of Mythvye are often viewed as a curious people, their actions and attitudes often too difficult to predict for the liking of the average booaker. Though Havod has benefited from friendly trade and cultural exchange with Mythvye in the past, the korrigan belief in the cyclical nature of life is baffling to some booakers and horrifying to others. Previous attempts to educate korrigans on the harm they do to their dead by imagining them reborn into a new life or identity have gone poorly, to put it mildly.

Though relations between Havod and Llanhythel have been amicable since the disbandment of the Hand of Anwar, many booakers feel a sense of threat from the gwyllion on account of their martial strength. Being a widely dispersed and not especially aggressive nation, it is not difficult for the people of Havod to recognise that should Llanhythel see fit to expand once more, they would likely be the easiest target. As a result, some booakers approach interactions with gwyllion with a certain degree of posturing – though, of course, few would admit to using the sacred art of necromancy as an intimidation tactic…

The booaker perspective on the piskies of Lyonn is as varied as the pisky population itself. Some view the piskies as powerful allies whose coordinated defence against the Faewilds and gifts of divination could be of great benefit. Others view them as strange, old-fashioned and impossible to negotiate with. Similarly to the korrigans, the pisky attitude to death stands in opposition to the booaker’s religious practices – though in general, booakers may be more willing to overlook this in order to maintain good relations with Lyonn.

The coblynau of Kloth’va are typically regarded as a pleasant and industrious people with whom Havod shares a number of well-maintained trade routes. Booakers tend to get along well with coblynau workers and have a healthy amount of admiration for their warrior class. Despite differences between these nations’ religious beliefs, the Council of Havod is known to welcome discussions with coblynau priests and ambassadorial visits from one nation to the other are not uncommon.