Just wanted to post a thread here to highlight Audlis creations.  With the help of a handful of creative people, I have really started to turn some effort toward expanding the world once more.

Today, I posted the article on Gaela and Lleua, the Moon Goddesses.  Esther and I cooked up this tale months ago, but I never quite plished it and published.  Well, here we are.

A little bit back, I added the Cliaraí character class.  These are servants of Telamor, the god of artistry - think something like a bard, but all of the magic is divine.  This one was pretty much my own brainchild.

Then, we have the Bófir - a race of minotaur-like beings, refugees from Capasha.  This was all Silas' idea, I just helped him cook it and write it out.  

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy.  We have som much more coming, and would LOVE for anone else who would like to help flesh out tot world to jump in and help!

THE CRINGE WILL FOREVER BE ON THE INTERNET! For real though its so cool I'm on the inn finally

I have organized and sorted the religion page, putting the deities into sensible order.  I am about to start the arduous process of editing all of the existing deities to correct some things, to standardize entries, to make them more usable.

I will also be adding some new ones - and removing one.

I have updated the four greater gods of good.  

You will notice a couple of big changes already.

Oriana is no longer a subordinate lesser deity of Shinara.  She is now a greater deity, taking Therassor's place as a greater good power.  I have given her followers a little more in the way of granted powers to reflect her increased status.

She is closely allied with Shinara and Telamor.  

Therassor is now a subordinate of Rydor.  I have yet to update his entry, but it's coming.  Oriana's page mentions two of the new lesser deities that are coming - Satta, lesser goddess of peace and Armon, lesser god of mercy and second chances.

More to come...

All existing good deities have been updated.  We need one or two small items to be consistent - Merca doesn't have a "joining the pantheon" blurb, Falloed doesn't have a quote.  But overall, these have been moved to the new format and are looking good.

Note that there are three new good deities coming:

Erna, goddess of hope
Satta, goddess of peace
Armon, god of mercy and second chances

The new good deities are stubbed in.

If anyone feels creative and would like to hep develop any of these, please let me know!

Uh... were Satta and Armon meant to have the same power?

Good catch.  These are just stub articles.  Armon's granted powers haven't even been defined yet.  I'll edit, thanks.

I am now working my way through the neutral deities.

Did you now that Kith-Jora and Tyrannis were once lovers?  Me neither, but since one of Kith-jora's fellowships/sects strongly hints at that, I made this canon.

Does this hook also work?

This is not a full formal article, this is just some notes.  I know that Alan (alovet) was doing some musing about the sylvari as well, but running one campaign set there and another that is spending a lot of time there has me doing a lot of behind the scenes world building.  

The Sylvari Empire is comprised of three member kingdoms - Alloryen (northern), Londelirenen (central), Maelamin (southern).  While each kingdom has a monarch, the empire as a whole is ruled by an emperor/empress above them all.  The current head of state is the Empress, who holds the title "Speaker of the Stars" (the traditional title for the overall Sylvari head of state).  

The Speaker in theory holds absolute power.  In practice, they tend to leave most governing work to the rest of the government.  The Speaker is viewed almost as a minor deity or demigod.  They are revered, thier words have almost the "mandate of Heaven" level authority behind them.

It does not hurt that the Speaker has always been long-lived, typically far beyond that of a normal syl.  The current Empress can remember the Anathari war, and personally walked the forests that were destroyed in it.  She is now more than two thousand years old, and despite her longevity, is well into the twilight of her days.

Sylvari government is very advanced, in many ways "modern" for a fantasy world that is otherwise more or less medieval in culture.   There are two legislative bodies - the upper nobility, the Great Houses, make up what is in effect a "house of lords" (name needed).  The lesser nobility have a voice here, though the Great Houses count for much more.  Then, you have the erestorea - elected officials from the commoners who make up the Senate. 

The Senate has real power, though it will be overruled by the nobility.  An individual erestor is largely viewed as minor nobility in terms of social status.  They serve for very long terms (thinking 40-50 years as a default), and can be voted out, although the majority serve until they elect to retire.

There are roughly half a dozen Great Houses per kingdom.  Alloryen has five such houses - Teltathar, Birdel, Eleneth, Isil'nari, and Mithethiel.  House Lanalthir was the sixth house, but it was destroyed in the Anathari war very long ago.  The Great Houses for the other kingdoms have yet to be defined.

The Great Houses are where most of the political power of the empire rests.  The Great Houses constantly struggle against one another for influence and power, making alliances and breaking them as they see fit - though schemes can take decades or longer to develop.

The Great Houses choose the next Speaker.  I am undecided exactly how king.queen of each nation goes - monarch for life, yes, but what about succession?  I am thinking by bloodlines, but perhaps the Great Houses must confirm the succession.

Sylvari society enjoys complete gender equity.  The eldest child is always considered the heir by default, regardless of gender.  However, any noble may choose anyone to be their heir.  This would almost always be a younger child in the case that the oldest sibling is not a fit heir, but adoptions can happen and an adopted heir would be legally binding.  

Sylvari society has several bands of social strata.  They are:

Royalty
Upper nobility
Lesser nobility
artisans/scholars/clergy
merchants
laborers/commoners

That said, all syvari enjoy personal rights and freedoms that most other peoples do not have.  There are no sefs, no indentured servants, etc among the sylvari.  Even a farmer or carpenter is afforded basic respect as a person, and has rights to personal property, to freely move about, etc.  

The sylvari empire fields a professional army - while it is small, it is the most skilled such force in the world.  Levies are only used in times of war.  I have toyed with the idea that the sylvari do something like Finland or other simialar countries in that all adults are given at least rudimentary training to help offset the fact that their population is so low.  Maybe not the full military service for X years thing that Finland does, but at least training.  That way, if the empire ever does need them, they have an idea of what to do beyond "stand with these other fellows and hold this pointy towards the enemy".

I am editing the Audalis timeline slightly.  Looking back, the Anathari war should have been longer than a mere five years, what with the destruction and losses the sylvari suffered.  

I'll pause here, but this is a big foundation of te ideas I am working off of.

The Speaker of the Stars is the chief executive of the government, obviously.  However, they often have little interest in the tedium of day to day management.  These tasks fall to a quasi prime minster figure - the Voice of the Speaker.  

The Voice is an appointed position, solely chosen by the Speaker.  This person will often have high level military experience, but as it is the Speaker's sole decision, this is not a concrete requirement.  This person has demonstrated their loyalty, their good judgment, their quick thinking.  Everything they say carries the power of the Speaker's name behind it, though the Speaker may of course step in at any time.  The Voice serves at the Speaker's pleasure; they may serve for centuries, if the Speaker so desires.

As discussed before, there are two legislative houses.  The upper house is similar to the real life British House of Lords - tentative title is the House of the Stars.  

The upper house contains one representative of each Great House, plus each of the three kingdoms has one representative for the Lesser Houses, for a total of twenty seats.  The breakdown is six great houses in both Londelirinen and Maelamin, five great houses in Alloryen, plus each kingdom has one seat to represent the Lesser Houses.

The upper house also has non voting seats for the major religions.  The churches of Kith-jora, Solanis, Lysora, Oriana, and Jusarin all have representatives who may hold the floor and speak - but these individuals do not have votes.

The upper house largely concerns itself with "big picture" items - foreign policy, overall tax rates, important negotiations, etc.  On items such as this, the lower house gets a token say only. (one vote?).

The lower house - consisting of the erestorea - are elected officials (note - we need a name for this house).  Each province has a pair of erestorea, who serve a term of one century, which results in a lower house that is roughly double the size of the upper house.  Provinces elect an erestor every fifty years, thus ensuring that there is always a senior and a junior erestor for each province.  

Most erestorea serve one term only; a few serve two terms, and there have been a tiny handful to serve three.  Traditionally, however, there must be exceptional demand for an erestor to serve more than one term.  The lower house is the progressive branch of sylvri government, so an infusion of fresh perspectives is highly valued.

To be eligible to become an erestor, you must have served at least a decade in the sylvari military.  The lower house is the voice of the common people - nobility may not be elected to these seats.  

The lower house is largely responsible for laws that deal with internal matters - local commerce, local taxes for local projects, and so forth.  In theory, all decisions by the lower house must pass through the upper house to be ratified; in practice, the upper house almost always rubber stamps such legislation, as it is viewed as largely beneath the powerful lords.

As a matter of fact, all legislation is written with the clause "accoding to the will of the Speaker of the Stars".  This is due to the fact that even though the Speaker has delegated lawmaking to the legislature, she still holds absolute authority.  If at any time, the Speaker wishes to countermand a law or establish her own directives, she may do so.  The Speaker holds what is, in effect, the mandate of Heaven.

Do note that whle the Voice of the Speaker could technically veto laws and such themselves, doing so is one area that would trigger an immediate opposition.  The legislature has been delegated lawmaking authority by the Speaker, so for a veto or the like that comes from the Voice to be upheld, it would need the Speaker's blessing.  There have only been two known vetoes by a Voice in sylvari history.  

...re: the lower house.

If the upper house is tentatively called "The House of the Stars," maybe the lower house could be "The House of the Trees?"

Stars and Trees both being important to the Syls, but one being loftier/more celestial and the other being earthier/more grounded... *shrugs* 

Just had the thought rattling around and figured I'd spit it out so it would leave me alone.

Defnitely worth consideration.