Traithe
The Dominion of Traithe or Empire of Traithe [TRAY-th] (also Trathe, Vraithe) was an ancient civilisation that flourished during the Jade Epoch, roughly from 8900 to 6500 BME. Its heartland was a peninsula in the far northeast of Anásthiasplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigAnásthias
Anásthias [a-NAS-thee-ass / ænæsθiːæs], or [an-ass-THEE-as] is an equatorial island continent, heart of the Civilised World. The north straddles the equator and is hot and humid, while most of the equatorial centre is an upland plateau with fertile river valleys, and stretches of arid plains and desert in the shadow of the mountains. The south is temperate but more wild, separated from the civilisations of the north by the almost impassable Harthera, in an area which is now the Junda Isles. It was inundated by rising seas at the end of the Celadon Epoch.
Though historically regarded as a single civilisation, in reality Traithe was a cultural continuum of many kingdoms, city states and empires over a span of 3000 years. The leaders of Traithe were originally kings and a powerful aristocracy. Over time the priestly class, called Hierophants, gained increasing control, eventually becoming absolute rulers who wielded magic power over their followers and enemies. Entry to the Traithi afterlife, and the ongoing happiness and wellbeing of deceased love-ones, depended on obedience and service to the hierophants, who were priests as well as leaders. In the later period these demands to slavish devotion were taken to extremes, with some hierophants equating themselves with gods, ending in revolt against the hierophants and the downfall of Traithe.
The hierophants of Traithe were demonised by later cultures for their practice of slavery, anathema to later societies, and use of magicplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagic
In common terms, magic is the art of producing a desired outcome through occult means. Various arts are described as magical, from common street illusionists, village herbalists, and rituals for the intercession of deities. However, true magic is the art and science of elemental mastery, harnessing elemental creatures and instructing them to perform simple or complex tasks. and necromancy to terrorise and control their population. How much this is truth or invention by later critics is unclear, since little archeological evidence of them remains.
To modern scholars the Traithe civilisation is united by a common culture of technology, motifs in art and design, and the Taigan language and script.
The Junda culture and people are thought to have descended from the ancient people of Traithe. The ruling Terath family of Harthera derive their name from Traithe.