Enkindlers

Locations
Radiant Empire, Aureum

Typical Physical Attributes
Enkindler skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues, with some members of ancient aristocratic families even displaying extremely pale tones of gray or ivory-white. Their eye and hair color, height and build fall within the scope of ordinary human variance.

Prevailing values
Enkindler culture prizes industry, personal and familial honor, and respect for authority and history. They appreciate displays of strength in all aspects of life, from sports to academic study. What little social mobility there is, is for individuals who excel at competition.

While Enkindler society is infused throughout with a certain militarism, and martial prowess is highly prized, the Magister’s influence ensures the high standing of philosophers and other scholars.

Customs
There’s a ritual for everything.

Aesthetics
Appearance is usually used by Enkindlers to display their station, preferably in the grandest way allowed for their social class. Enkindlers prefer dramatic colors, like black, white, purple, crimson and indigo, and like to have a lot of decorative detail. Their works are usually strong, sturdy, massive and imposing - they have the means of out-constructing almost anyone else, and like to show it.

History
At the dawn of the Second Age, it is said, Ylitimo, the god of the heavens himself, saw the world to be a dull-witted and dark place. To light the lands, he drew on the sparks and fires of the sky, put this flame in a vessel of flesh, and so were born the first humans, the Enkindlers.

Their industriousness and liking for discipline served the Enkindlers well in the early years, and they built villages, towns and cities, proving themselves to be the greatest builders in the world. Even to this day their monuments stand tall and proud, having weathered the centuries.

As the Enkindlers shaped more and more of their physical surroundings, they attracted new envoys from Ylitimo. The Wonderer visited them, and inspired them to create a towering structure, a beacon of knowledge, wisdom and civilization: Towerage. This sparked a wave of innovation and an interest in philosophy, for which the rarefied heights of the great spires were ideal.

With philosophy came debate, and from debate new ideas sprung - ideas that threatened the precious traditions of the Enkindlers. This is when The Magister appeared, to bring the bickering academics of the land together and harness them to the service of “The Greater Good”. With spell and spear he conquered all rivals, becoming the God-Emperor of the Radiant Empire. He built Quillfork to serve as a center of learning that would take in the sometimes radical ideas dreamt up in Towerage and digest them into a more practical shape that would reinforce, not destabilize, the unity of the Empyre.

Many centuries have passed with The Magister on the throne of the Radiant Empire. The vast majority of this time, however, he has spent in his Ponderings. The Magister Ponders for years, even decades, at a time, sitting on his throne, deep in thought. When he rouses, his every word is carefully recorded by attending clergy, and these Words will then be interpreted by the Empyreal powers-that-be, resulting in commandments that they assume the Magister wants accomplished during his next Pondering. In practice, the various clerics and nobles use the Words as an excuse to heighten their own power, leading the Empyre into regular civil wars.

Enkindlers generally do not see these civil wars as a problem, though, but rather consider it healthy competition.