State of Meranthe

[Bologna Prime]

ʚїɞ
♐︎ Hiero 20th, 2084
Spring arrived, but she never did.
ʚїɞ

The traditional celebrations of the Spring Equinox across Delphina are overcast with a sober gloom. The Queen of Spring, Melanthia Alinteau, remains absent, and after many months' wait it becomes less and less sensible to expect that to ever change. The nation begins to rally more and more behind its proclaimed Lord-Regent, the most stable facet of an often unstable history since the turn of the century, Camino de Caewynn. The coronation blossom of the absent Queen is found from her empty estate, indeed wilted, but not entirely dead dessicated. Instead, in a particularly exceptional display of the azilaena's cycling of water, its drooping blue flower appears to weep.

"That I had known the Queen well, I would know that she would not derelict her duties so. To see that she has not returned, it is better however mournful, to believe she has ceased to be, than ceased to be herself. That this flower weeps that it has lost her, not that it has been abandoned. I bid thee mourn with it."

The Lord-Regent states in public address, bidding a period of mourning before the future of Delphina would be formally announced. Perhaps, if such words were spoken in full sincerity, one would guess this outcome assumed. The theater of summoning the lost Queen to the public, a distant specter of hope allowed to fade.

ʚїɞ

♈︎ Syph 1st, 2084
Delphina can wait no longer.
ʚїɞ

ʚїɞ: Knowing that the pretense of regency is to wait a return of faculty to a monarch who may yet find it, knowing that waiting for the return of the missing Queen Melanthia Alinteau would be an exercise which could only grow more disconnected from reality, and knowing that Nemea's crown should only answer the call of a Faeborne monarch, a decision is made. In faith that by every metric which should matter in the eyes of Kin and Goddess both, the man born Human is as Faeborne: Lord-Regent Camino de Caewynn assumes the throne of Delphina. Asked his customary title, he professes his own to be that of Lumin King, evoking the most sacred of Nemea's flowers. An monarch greater in years Delphina has not known since the reign of Alfewynn.

ʚїɞ: Violence and war continues to loom over the common mind, as it does for the citizens of any nation with a stake in the greater future of Meranthe. With the destruction of Vera Cruz, Delphina continues to offer its support against the siege of Aphros from the Shadowlands. With the heel-turn of Ludmaz Dawnseeker, a new front close to home is opened with but two options to pursue: Depose the Voidic King so that Dawnstone may know sanity once more, else see that it is no more.

ʚїɞ: In acknowledgement of their dealings with enemy forces, the Crafting Delights company is expelled from doing business within the Realm of Delphina. Storefronts found to be run or owned by affiliates will be promptly vacated.

ʚїɞ: Following a demonic intrusion in the capital, promptly quelled and investigated, Delphinan authorities warn of a new threat: The organization known as RISE possesses and has demonstrated the capability to warp the minds of Demons into something all the more unabashedly violent. The captured specimen, a demonic wasp, had cast aside all sense of self-preservation in the pursuit of Nephilim and their Champions after being altered by the iconoclastic terrorists. Whether this transformative power strictly applies to Demons, unknown but better left unassumed.

ʚїɞ: A land relatively rife with spiritmancers even following the disappearance of its practicing Spring Queen, word is of ongoing efforts to create spiritual protections for the Realm, or perhaps even protectors...  But until, if, and even when such a providence comes, it does no harm to look towards one's fellows of the mortal substance in trying times. An added depth of coordination is invited between allied forces and those of the Elzara, and vice versa, from training exercises to joint patrols against the Fel.

ʚїɞ: As ever, the occult is forbidden within the Realm. Foreign visitors from friendly nations that are capable of such magics are tenuously permitted, so long as they do not manifest them whatsoever within the land. Said nations however, are expected to accept and understand the fault of their own citizenry should infraction come incurred and accountability be leveled. To come to Delphina is to be mindful of its law.

 Relations:

It is no strange occurence to those familiar with Delphinans and most particularly the Faeborne, to find their opinions obscured and convoluted by a complex web of eloquence, etiquette, and niche cultural references. One can at least, usually, gather a vague impression.

The Sainted Church: Lora meni'al...*

Sacred State of Aphros: Suthadiel**

Final Frontier: Dul'anal suli'ladana†

Kingdom of Fortune: Suwi'el lor ladam††

Audhild: Shatorei lunne'las so'suri la'shatorei lunne‡

Atheoria: Mulimel‡‡

RISE: Laumaurin♦
Kingdom of Dawnstone: Suli'neire galatannor suri♣
Sheol: Shei'lamura♥
Empire of Skarnfel: Aryn♠




*Wylden. Can be used as as a farewell or caution, oftentimes both. "Walk safely", a believed translation.
**Classical literary character. A pariah youth estranged from his parents, who gradually finds a claim of dignity through difficult vigil over frontier lands.
†Wylden. Possible translations include "To love more of it, were some of it less." or "For one side of the coin, my gratitude." Often used in the fruit-basket subculture of Delphina, to articulate an arrangement of fruits loved and some not quite so. Recognition that in some ways a given subject is kindred to yourself, whilst others strikingly foreign.
††Wylden. Translation highly nebulous, a line from a poem written out of longing for a distant time or even sea.
‡Wylden. A proverb that approximates to "Deal well with ruin, to be dealt with well by ruin."
‡‡Classical literary character. A unimpressively undignified individual, vaguely disregarded by much of the cast until made into a pawn of the more sinister Laumaurin.
♦Classical literary character. Antagonist figure, an egotistical iconoclast who professes a self-righteous cause and leaves a wake of ruin.
♣Wylden. Excerpt from a rather grim poem, believed to translate vaguely to "the loveless embrace of madness"
♥Wylden. Excerpt from a story about exploring the nature of reflections. a term, so it is argued, precisely defined by the sort of disgust and mortification of bearing witness to a blasphemously twisted reflection of one's self.
♠ Historical figure, more prominent to the folklore of Ursidae though familiar to those Faeborne more versed in the tales of their Goddess. A corrupt Nephilim of the Shadowlands who coveted the wonders of Pavonis for himself. Old enemy of the Faith.