Voronta
The massive mountain range of Voronta reaches up into the sky, making this nation's terrain a treacherous place. This nation thrives in this environment, but only thanks to the Faint Divinities that also inhabit these mountains—or so their faith claims. Voronta is the country with the most shared borders of Telumar, which they use to trade in the specialties of each nation: on the surface, they share a border with Arondor, Liyume, and Ingolia; they also have access to Grothon underground and are in frequent contact with the city-state of Daurda.
The tallest peaks of Voronta have the Watchtowers, small but sturdy buildings that are always occupied by one of the Starwatchers. The Watchtower network serves multiple purposes, such as sending quick messages throughout the nation using a light-based code, keeping an eye out for fires and other dangers, and helping people who can't find their way. But the most important duty of all is watching the night sky and alerting the nation when the Wandering Gods return.
Vorontans have come up with all sorts of ways to make travel through the mountains slightly easier, from simple inventions like using the best materials to make their sturdy boots, to complex pulley mechanisms to deliver goods to hard-to-reach places. Visitors from other nations are often surprised at their ingenuity, and, much to Ingolia's delight, Vorontains don't mind sharing their inventions with other nations.
Feet on the ground, eyes to the stars
The people of Voronta are fiercely protective of their culture and independence. While the terrain protects them from military invasion, multiple nations have attempted to use them in other ways. Both Arondor and Liyume would love to have Voronta in their respective spheres of influence, as that would give them more leverage against the other one. The scholars from Ingolia has also tried multiple times to get Voronta to share the secret lore that, according to legend, lies within that mountain range.Those who watch the stars
Voronta has the tallest mountains on the planet, and therefore Vorontans are closest people to the stars—and to the return of the Wandering Gods. According to tradition, they'll be the first ones to hear the call from the gods when they return, and a lot of traditions exist around this belief. For example, many houses have at least one room with a glass ceiling, and all religious ceremonies and government duties are carried out outdoor whenever possible. After all, when the Wandering Gods return, Vorontans want to be ready to welcome them immediately.The tallest peaks of Voronta have the Watchtowers, small but sturdy buildings that are always occupied by one of the Starwatchers. The Watchtower network serves multiple purposes, such as sending quick messages throughout the nation using a light-based code, keeping an eye out for fires and other dangers, and helping people who can't find their way. But the most important duty of all is watching the night sky and alerting the nation when the Wandering Gods return.
Mountain nomads
Voronta as a nation can be traced back to a clan of Lendari nomads who frequented the then-uninhabited mountain range. They eventually settled down and created the nation that would eventually become Voronta, but their Lendari roots are still easy to spot today. Many Vorontans still live a nomadic lifestyle within the mountain range, and their long-distance communication method, the Vorontan whistle, is clearly based on the Lendari flute (much smaller and louder, but with two pipes that still allow basic polyphony).Vorontans have come up with all sorts of ways to make travel through the mountains slightly easier, from simple inventions like using the best materials to make their sturdy boots, to complex pulley mechanisms to deliver goods to hard-to-reach places. Visitors from other nations are often surprised at their ingenuity, and, much to Ingolia's delight, Vorontains don't mind sharing their inventions with other nations.
The King Above
In an interesting parallelism with Grothon (ruled by the King Below), Voronta is ruled by the King Above. However, the difficult terrain of this nation makes enforcing any laws very hard. So while the king holds power on some fundamental things, such as taxes and the army, power in Voronta is decentralized. Each city acts as its own semi-autonomous area, ruling over itself and its "streets", which is what smaller settlements ruled by a city are called.Communities
Voronta is inspired by the Ridgeborne community, but a Vorontan character could easily be from a variety of different communities too.For example, a Highborne or Orderborne character could be from the political or religious elites of the nation, and both the Wildborne and Wanderborne communities fit in well with Voronta too. Plus, Voronta has regular contact with seven other nations (all except the distant Turuvua), so you could also be someone who came from a different nation and decided to stay!
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