Crisania (Ilarion Environment)

Capital

Seven Falls

Government

Largely Independent City-states

Leaders

1 Solateria, 8 Legatus

Deities

Heliosa, Phoebus

Language

Omilía

Population

8,715,000

Diversity

60% Amazons, 20% Ayleans, 8% Dwarves, 4% Huan, 3% Thamiri, 2% Badawi, 2% Minotaurs, 1% Orcs

The military is the dominant social structure in Crisania. Any person wishing to gain Crisanian citizenship must complete two years of military service. Native Crisanians do so at the age of thirteen. This is very important as military rank determines social status; there are no hereditary rulers in Crisania.

Each city is run by a Legatus who swears loyalty to the Solitaria. While the various city-states are largely independent they ban together under the Solitaria to combat external threats. Additionally, the Solitaria may end disputes by ordering the Legati to duel.

Geography

The Coastal region is in cyan, the Northern region is in green and the Southern region is blue.

Crisania is divided into three regions based on its geography: the coast, the northern mountains, and the southern mountains.

Coastal

A mixture of sea cliffs, rocky shores, and sandy beaches, the Coastal Region is rich with resources. Fishing, farming, and hunting are common occupations. The population of this region is very friendly and gregarious. Trade is heavy in this region and cultural influences are brought in right alongside goods and spices. The use of chopstick and an increased use of rice in cooking is from the Doa Ming. Rooftop gardens and multi-course meals come from Halcyon. The use of falafel and offal in cooking is from Thebia.

Geographical Features

Earth Splashes
Throughout the coast there are impact craters from the meteor strikes that ended the Age of Legends. The craters create well-protected bays.

River Deltas
The major agricultural production centers for Crisania, these wetlands are rich with natural resources important to the nation; most notably oysters.

Northern

More industrially inclined than the southern region, and less laid back than the coastal region. The terrain is rocky and the foothills quickly give way to mountains. Sheep and goat herding is common, as is winemaking.

Geographical Features

Wolf's Den Pass
The Wolf's Den Pass is a wide and well-traveled trade route through the Wolf Peaks. The Pass is well fortified and occupied by the Hellgivers. A massive wall and gate on the west side of the pass keep the Ayleans from using the pass to invade. A town, populated mostly by retired Hellgivers and defected Ayleans, has sprung up at the eastern end of the pass.

Broadwater
The largest river on Lais Broadwater is the northernmost border of Crisania. The river is eleven miles wide at its widest point and typically between two and five miles wide. At it's deepest it is 200 feet deep. This river is an integral part of the trade route through the Wolf Peaks. It sees heavy traffic year round.

Southern

The transition from foothills into mountains is subtler than in the north. The low areas are thick with trees. People in the southern region are more passionate than those from other regions.

Geographical Features

Patchwork Forest
Caused by variations in soil, topography, exposure to wind and sun, and fire history, the vast forest of the southern region is an intricate patchwork of differing vegetation. Thick forests are next to shrublands and grasslands creating the patchwork effect.

Wolf Peaks
The Wolf Peaks form the western border between Crisania and Aylea. This smaller range parallels the coast until it meets the Ikarus mountains.

Cities

Sevenfalls is marked with a star.

All Crisanian settlements are built with fortification in mind.

Hesperia (heh spear ee ah)

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Notable for its lush public gardens, the back of Hesperia sets against a rocky hillside, carved into a sheer cliff. The public buildings are mainly constructed of the red stone of the hill. The streets are winding and often narrow. Hesperia is a port city, at the mouth of the Silver Oak river, with a thriving fishing trade.

High Falls

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situated on Bone Speckle river, High Falls is so named because of the tremendous waterfalls that cascade over the city. Most of the city is dug into the side of a mountain allowing the falls to pour into a series of aqueducts at the city’s center. High Falls is a labyrinth of winding, narrow streets and dark alleys give it a claustrophobic feeling. The only open spaces in the city are the central square (filled with fountains, and statues), the Coliseum, and the training grounds.

Ilankia (ill ank ee ah)

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Ilankia was built around an outcrop of rock, on the top of which sits a huge marble temple. The temple can only be reached by a stone bridge from an adjacent hill. The city is separated into districts by a series of stone walls and gatehouses. The city's port is outside of the main wall, on the mouth of Bone Speckle river.

Seven Falls

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Seven Falls is a single massive ziggurat cut from the very mountain at its back. While it gets its name from the lesser river joining the White Duck river at the fork on which it sits, Seven Falls does have seven, artificial, waterfalls. The lower levels are perpetually shrouded in mist. The falls are lit up in different colors from behind during festivals.

Shieldport

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The northern most city in Crisania, Shieldport sits at the mouth of the Broadwater. The city walls extend into the sea protecting the docks from rough weather as well as attack. There are two points of entrance into the harbor massive portcullises called the sea gate and the river gate.

Sica (seek ah)

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A sprawling city, Sica sits at the mounth of Sunscale river. It is capable of housing ten times the number of inhabitants as it does. As the youngest major city in Crisania, Sica has the most city planning; the streets and alleys are built in a grid pattern and ample farmland has been included behind the city wall.

Stone Bridge

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A tangle of narrow streets and row buildings Stone Bridge sits on the banks of White Duck river, spanned by a rock arch forming a natural bridge. A gate was added under the bridge to guard the harbor. The waters around the city are rocky and treacherous, a lighthouse was erected at the edge of the harbor to ensure the safe passage of ships.

Sturgeons' Rest

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Built around a stronghold of stone and iron, Sturgeons’ Rest sits in the fork where the Black Meadow river pours into the Silver Oak river. Iron is an abundant resource in the city and all buildings have iron doors, railings, and signs. Every intersection has an iron statue at its center.

Sunscale

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The city of Sunscale sits on the banks of the outlet of Sunscale Lake. The lake and river both bare the same name because of the gold and pyrite veins running through them and how they shine when the light hits them. The surrounding hills were carved into tiers and turned into farmland. Many of the city’s important buildings have tiled roofs painted with pyrite.

Government

Crisania is a stratocracy (rule by military service) made up of largely independent city-states aligned under the rule of the Solitaria. The Solitaria is essentially a general, but she also keeps the peace between city-states. Each city and the fifty-mile radius around it is run by a Legatus. Local governments vary in how they operate based on their own traditions. Although, all are some form of democracy where only citizens may vote or hold government positions. Many cities also require land-ownership to participate in the local government.

Any person wishing to gain Crisanian citizenship must complete two years of military service. Native Crisanians do so at the age of thirteen.

Foreign Relations

Aylea: There have been ongoing border skirmishes in the Wolf's Den Pass for the last two hundred years. In the last twenty-five years, the trade road has been open more often than it has been closed. (enemy peace)

Thebia: Trade with Thebia is good. (friend peace)

Fjallheim: trade is fair. (friend peace)

Halcyon: trade is fair. (neutral peace)

Dao Ming:Trade is good. (neutral peace)

Military

A standing army of 85,000 soldiers, mostly infantry. Crisania's entire able-bodied population has two years of military training and can be called upon in times of emergencies. Crisania's navy is not a separate entity from her army.

Law

While each city is governed under its own set of laws, there are some more or less universal laws.

Trial Procedure

There are no professional lawyers or judges. Civil cases may be settled one of three ways: Trial by combat, mediation, or Trial before a jury. Criminal Cases are always settled by trial before a jury.

Trial by combat: The two litigants fight in an arena until one surrenders or dies. Many cities have stipulations, such as disallowing the use of weapons or the victor being the first to draw blood.
Mediation: The two litigants sit down with an agreed upon, neutral third party that hears both sides out and then decides on the best solution.
Trial before a jury: A representative of each side of the dispute presents evidence, questions witnesses, and gives a concluding speech. Some speechwriters do specialize in composing speeches for trial. The jury, made up of three to twenty-three citizens over the age of thirty selected from a panel of volunteers, vote guilty or not guilty. If they vote guilty they then vote on the sentence. Juries are paid a small fee, which has led to disproportionate numbers of poor and elderly citizens working on juries.

Crimes and Punishments

Assault: Physical labor, unless the victim dies within a month then the charge is increased to murder. If a pregnant woman is assaulted the penalty is doubled. If she loses her baby a charge of murder is added.
Hubris: Actions which, intentionally or not, shame and humiliate the victim for the pleasure or gratification of the abuser. Hubris includes assault and battery, forcible rape, rape by coercion, consensual but improper activities, or the theft of public or sacred property. Hubris is punishable by public flogging, time in the stocks, or a walk of shame through the town center (often being pelted with rotten fruit or vegetables).
Kidnaping: Kidnapping for ransom is punishable by Flogging and the return of any ransom pays. Kidnapping for slavery is punishable by execution.
Murder: Execution.
Rape: Forcible rape is punishable by execution, while rape by coercion is punishable by flogging and exile.
Theft: Return of the stolen goods plus twice it's value.
Treason: Execution.
Use of arcane magic: See Treason.

Banishment: Banishment strips a person of their citizenship, is a person that was banished is found in the kingdom they are put to death.
Execution: The victim, or their closest living relative, typically sets the specific method. Gladiatorial combat is the most common form of execution, but beheading, poisoning, or being thrown into a pit of sharp spikes are popular as well. The most brutal method of execution in Crisania is being lowered into a dry well to die from dehydration and heat-exhaustion.
Exile: Citizens can be exiled to other city-states for any given length of time.
Fines: Minor crimes can be punished by fines. If the fines cannot be paid in a timely fashion one month of physical labor per 1 gp of the total fine plus fifteen percent can be substituted.
Flogging: Carried out with a whip, cane, or switch a flogging is administered in bouts of no more than ten a day and fifty in a week.
Physical Labor: Physical labor is done on public works projects, each day must be sighned off on by a project supervisor.
Stocks: Consisting of large wooden boards with hinges to restrain the ankles and wrists, a person can be held in stocks for three consecutive days. In winter a person can only be held in stock, outdoors, in the sunlight.

Slavery

Slavery is illegal in Crisania, and owning slaves is looked down upon as weakness.

History

-1000 - -600 Archaic Period

Year	Event
c. -1000 - -950	Pericles is the first recorded male Dux (chief) of a Crisanian city. Charming and unflappable, he was re-elected yearly to the position for twenty years, despite frequent personal attacks.
c. -1000	Gastraphetes, meaning 'belly-bow', is invented. It is a composite crossbow (crossbow with a prod made of wood, horn, and sinew laminated together) that the user had to lean with his belly on the butt end of the crossbow, which had a notch built in, and push down to cock it.
c. -980	First sundials build.
c. -930	The slaying of the horned dragon Khallgan with the Stymphalian Spire (a spear allegedly forged out of ore from the massive meteor strikes twenty years prior).
c. -940	Coastal cities form a confederacy to defend from pirates and foreign invaders
c. -890-810	An oxybeles, which is an oversize gastraphetes mounted on a stand, is developed.
c. -880-860	The fortress that will later become Sevenfalls is constructed.
c. -870	Phidia, a sculptor, completes a forty foot tall statue of Heliosa at Sunscale.
c. -850	Callicrates discovers an iron ore deposit near her favorite fishing spot and founds Sturgeons' Rest. She is the Dux of the city until her death.
c. -830 - -820	Stone Bridge wars with Hesperia, until Callicrates mediates peace between them.
c. -815	Callicrates dies during a boar hunt.
c. -800	Doctors from Hesperia believe diseases have physical causes. They start to collect data and conduct experiments to show that disease is a natural process.
c. -790	The polybolos, a repeating crossbow, that used a crank to fire, is invented.
c. -780	An expedition ventures south to Bone Speckle river and founds Ilankia.
c. -750 - -740	Shieldport wars with Sunscale. The lake town must send a tribute (ten trained warriors and supplies for them) to the port city each year for 100 years.
c. -710	Ilankia sends an expedition farther south. They do not return.
c. -670	Tresza the Black learns magical forging techniques from the dwarves.
c. -650	After a rebellion in Ilankia, High Falls is founded.
c. -620	Cartography is invented.
c. -600	The crane is invented.

-600 - -200 Late Archaic Period

Year	Event
c. -590	A cult to Lylia crops up among the human minority in Stone Bridge. After the cult was eradicated laws were changed to allow humans to gain citizenship.
c. -560	Sica is founded.
c. -530	The city-states band together to defend against a barbarian invasion.
c. -500	The city-states elect the first Solitaria. Sevenfalls is made the nation's capital. The nation is a federation of nine "nations" each more or less self-governing, but now under the control of the Solitaria.
c. -490	Plumbing, for baths and fountains, as well as for personal use within individual homes, is invented. Many houses are equipped with closets or latrines, flushed by wastewater, that drain into a sewer beneath the street. Some of the sewers are fitted with ventilating shafts.
c. -470	A large temple to the gods is constructed near Sturgeon's Rest. It's doors open automatically using a hydraulic system that is based on steam power. The engine uses air from a closed chamber heated by an altar fire to displace water from a sealed vessel; the water is collected and its weight, pulling on a rope, opens temple doors.
c. -440	The crossbow is invented.
c. -410	Start of the summer games hosted by Sica, it becomes one of the greatest spectacles in sports. The wheelbarrow is invented.
c. -380	Catapult is invented.
c. -350	Introduction of sand glass clocks.
c. -320	Four hundred foot tall lighthouse is constructed in Hesperia.
-290 - -230	The Water Mill is developed.
c. -260	Increasing tension with the Hua Die in the Lycon Gulf leads to small-scale skirmishes over the next ten years known as the teapot crisis.
c. -230	Lysander founds an academy in Shieldport with her husband, Augustus Tiberius Calvisius.
c. -200	The aeolipile, a steam engine that was originally a children's toy, is put to more practical use; rotating a spit.

-200 - -1 Dark Age

Year	Event
c. -200	Legatis Sebra Solitaria is slain in battle against a Giff invasion. Her eldest daughter takes command of her troops and leads them to victory. Sebra's daughter neglects other responsibilities in favor of retaliation against the Giff. Trade declines and poverty rises.
c. -190	The cities begin waring with each other over resources.
c. -175	Sebra's daughter is challenged and defeated by Legatis Alexandria of Shieldport.
c. -160	Legatis Alexandria Solitaria attempts to reinstitute trade between the cities. She orders a large-scale construction project to fix the roads.
c. -150	The academy in Shieldport is destroyed in a fire.
c. -145	A second Giff invasion ends with Sica's occupation.
c. -130	The Giff make a massive push and seized the coast.
c. -115 - -110	The young and old in the coastal region flee to the interior to avoid death and slavery at the hands of the Giff.
c. -100	Cement, made by adding limestone to a mixture of clay, water, and sand, is invented.
c. -85 - -70	Altair, an Amazon born into slavery under the Giff, kills the Giff Governor of Hesperia. Altair leads a slave rebellion up the coast, promising her followers only death and the fire of Heliosa's own sun. They murder every Giff they come across. Despite the Giff's superior numbers and equipment, they score several key victories before their ultimate defeat.
c. -70 - -60	The Giff spend ten years resecuring their hold on the coast. Then they begin a push inland.
c. -55	Most of the nation is conquered, save the capital and a few mountain outposts.
c. -40	Sevenfalls is running low on supplies and the Solitaria considers surrendering. Galatea, a bandit lord, defeats her and leads raids on the surrounding Giff territory to replenish. She is especially brutal in the winter but steps down in the spring becoming the cities Quartermaster.
c. -25	Armed with dwarven supplied weapons a second slave rebellion destabilizes Giff control of the nation. New, harsher, Governors are sent to maintain order.
c. -10	Allied with the Dao Ming Empire and Thebia they begin a ten-year push to eradicate the Giff.
c. -5	An army of misfits, led by the Solitaria's daughter, secures Sevenfalls after it is sacked, and nearly taken, by the Giff. Their war cry is 'Give them Hell,' a nod to the Giff religion's afterlife.
c. -1	The Giff are defeated. Their race is all but wiped out.

1-200 Classical Period

Year	Event
1	A standing army is formed. All citizens of Crisania are required to serve two years in the army.
50	Thermometer invented
52	Aylea declares war. Several small passes are collapsed to prevent invasion. Trade slows to a crawl.
72	The Aylean Republic negotiates for peace ending a twenty-year war.
121	The academy in Shieldport is rebuilt.
163	Ayleans sent an invasion force into the Wolf Den Pass.
185	An aeolipile-like engine is invented by Belen to power riverboats.

200-400 Late Classical Period

Year	Event
244	A crude piston is invented.
268	Brass is invented.
317	Aylea begins long term aggressions with Crisania, with a concentrated campaign to secure the Wolf Den Pass.
379	The trebuchet was invented and deployed by Aylean forces in the Wolf Den Pass.
389	Amazons expanded south to Mountain Shell River.

400-600 Moddern Era

Year	Event
412	Dwarves are commissioned to build a bridge across Broadwater. The construct a massive folding bridge.
467	Amazons send an expedition to explore the peninsula south of Mountain Shell River.
512	Amazons colonized the three islands between Crisanus and Zanthus
568	Legatus Mirana Solitaria is challenged for authority and defeated by Legatus Briethus
572	The Dao began peaceful trade with the Amazons.
596	Massive earthquakes

Society

The military is the dominant social structure in Crisania. All children are taught the basics of military training and excellence growing up, and enter into military service at the age of thirteen. This is very important as military rank determines social status; there are no hereditary rulers in Crisania.

Mannerisms and Customs

Crisanians are very demonstrative and affectionate. They stand with their shoulders touching during conversations. Taller individuals will often drape their arm over the shoulders of their shorter friends and associates.

Nonverbal communications are subtle and formalized. All citizens were taught at least basic field signs during their two years of service. "Yes" is signified by a slight upward nod of the head or a "thumbs up"; “no" is a slight downward nod of the head or a "thumbs down". The “O.K.” sign is a rude gesture.

Punctuality is not particularly important in Crisania. Being up to an hour late is not concerning at all, if you are more than an hour late you should have a reason.

Crisanians always begin business meetings with general conversation, as they want to get to know you before they will do business with you. Trust is a major ingredient for acceptance and is much more important than qualifications, expertise, or performance. Crisanians may be slow to trust foreigners.

Meetings are often forums for expressing personal opinions (usually contrary) or to inform the group about what is taking place; they seldom have a formal agenda. Consensus is important and meetings may last or be reconvened until unanimity is reached.

Crisanians dislike written communications. They are stiff and formal. Personal, face-to-face contact is vital to communications.

Crisanians believe that there is one boss, and she takes complete responsibility. In businesses, the boss is the owner or the owner's most trusted employee. In all other occasions, it is the highest ranking individual.

The official work day starts early (at or before dawn), ends at lunch and may start again at in the early evening.

Crisanians are extremely generous hosts. The person who extends the invitation pays.

Always bring the host a gift when invited to someone's home. Give: expensive wines, brandy, pastries, whiskey, cut flowers. Do not give: inexpensive wines, knives, sharp objects.

Be extremely careful of your wine intake. Drunkness is no excuse for rudeness or impropriety.

Greetings

On a first meeting, shake hands with everyone present, even children. Shake hands again when leaving. Good friends are most likely to embrace and kiss.

Superstitions

Mati - the evil eye. It is believed that someone can cast the evil eye onto another person out of envy and jealousy. Dizziness, headache, and/or yawning a lot are the symptoms. The curse can be broken by a special ritual done with oil, water, and prayers.

Throwing out bread is bad luck. If the leftovers get stale, feed them to an animal instead.

Never Hand Someone a knife. The proper way to hand it off is to set it down on a table and let the other person pick it up. It is believed that if you hand the person the knife that you will get into a fight with them.

Crisanians believe that two people accidentally speaking the same words at the same time, to be a sign that the two will get into a fight. To avoid the argument, they have to touch something that is red immediately.

Whether stored in your pocket or bag or hung in windows and doorways, garlic protects from bad luck. Saying 'skorda' (the Omilía word for garlic) three times will protect you from jinxes (someone saying a bad thing will happen to you, causing it to happen). Pairing it with oinons will ensure god health.

Gender, Marriage, and Family

Families are very important in Crisania. Elders are highly respected, and children care for their elderly parents. Children are disciplined firmly, but parents (even those who are poor) spend a great deal of their income on feeding, clothing and educating their children. Men consider it a personal honor and responsibility to care for their family.

As the dominant race, Amazons shape much of Crisania’s culture. As a race that has five to six times the number of women to men Amazons are polygamous, several women find a man to raise their children. The husband teaches the group's children a trade and the basics of combat. While women are the majority gender among Amazons, they do not treat men as inferior. Men receive the same training, they spend two years doing military service, and they enjoy the same rights under the law as females. A man may hold the same position in society as a woman. While most male Amazons tend to wed and start a family, they are not barred from being career military or entering politics.

Clothing

Clothing in Crisania primarily consists of the chiton (a simple typically knee length garment that is secured at the shoulder with buttons, pins, or brooches and fastened at the waist with a belt) and chlamys (a cloak made from a single rectangle of cloth). The chlamys is often worn alone by the young. Common clothing is plain white typically wool, sometimes linen. Occasionally incorporating decorative borders, elaborate design, and/or bright colors, but these are less common. Women and men typically wear sandals, slippers, soft shoes, or boots when out, but at home, they usually go barefoot, if not entirely nude.

Architecture

Most buildings are square and made of baked clay bricks covered in plaster. Masonry is usually mortarless although bitumen (a roofing tar-like substance) is sometimes used. Large structures take the form of a Ziggurat (often with a shrine on the top-most level) and are constructed from massive stone blocks. Most buildings are unadorned and windows are often just arrowslits. Ceramic sinks and tubs are common in private residences, as are showers and latrines. Spiral staircases are common.

Art

Architectural friezes, sculpture, painting, pottery and jewelry making are the most common forms of art. Stone, especially marble or other high-quality limestones, is the most common material, but bronze is more highly prized. Glass paste, glass, and precious and semi-precious stones are frequently used for detail such as eyes, jewelry, and weaponry. Terracotta and wood can also be used, always painted, but they are fragile and do not stand the test of time. Heroic figures, horses, hounds, battles, birds, and other animals are all very common subjects.

Chryselephantine, or gold-and-ivory, statues are most common in temples and are regarded as the highest form of sculpture. They are normally over-lifesize, built around a wooden frame, with thin carved slabs of ivory representing the flesh, and sheets of gold leaf, typically over wood, representing the garments, armor, hair, and other details.

Entertainment

Plays (tragedies, histories, or comedies), poetry recitals, puppets shows, concerts, and parties (public or private) are the most common forms of entertainment. Every community will have an amphitheater. Boxing is also common but is less of a spectator sport and more of an athletic competition. Races (horse and foot) are common in the summer. Swimming and mock battles are common children's entertainment.

Brothels and prostitution are rare in Crisania. Amazons look down on those who cannot find a willing partner. However, many inns will have hourly rates, and offer full body massages.

Games

Mercenaries - a two-player game on an eight by eight grid with sixteen tokens to a side. Players set up their tokens in two rows and move one piece, one space in any direction each turn. To capture an enemy token, simply flank it. To win, either capture all the opponent's tokens, be the first to capture a set number of tokens, or be the first to get a set number of tokens across the board.

Shield-line - a two-player game on any square grid three or more to a side. Tokens are placed or moved one at a time until either the board is full or one player gets 3 or more in a row diagonally, horizontally or vertically. A three to five grid needs three, six to eight needs five and so on increasing the row size by two for every three more squares to a side. The number of tokens should be enough to fill the board.

Wives - Played by two on an 8 by 8, 8 by 12, or 12 by 12 grid. The first player to make a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line of five game pieces is the winner. If the board becomes filled and no more moves can be made, the game is a draw. Each player can place one game piece in one turn. A double open-ended row of three is forbidden unless a player is forced to make that play. This refers to a row of three that simultaneously goes in two directions, forming a cross, an X shape or a T shape.

Kottoabis - A fixture of all-night parties, the game involves flinging the dregs left over from a cup of wine at a target. Usually, the participants sit in a circle and toss their dregs at the basin in the center.

Gambling

Gambling is an acceptable form of entertainment. Bets informal affairs between two people, the wagers are held by a third party and awarded to the win immediately. It is considered theft to wager things you do not have on your person.

Festivals

Festivals usually include a procession, a sacrifice (typically a cow or bull), and various competitions (music, poetry, and drama, as well as athletics). Beef is the signature food of a festival. It is usually sliced thin and served in a gyro or on a kabob.

Common Festivals

Spring Equinox - Starting at dawn, children go from door to door singing hymns and are rewarded with a coin in return. As the Spring Equinox is a lucky day people participate in games of chance throughout the day. Betting amounts are generally kept minimal and friendly diversions are offered so as not to upset anyone who is not winning. Pomegranates are considered a sign of fertility, prosperity, and regeneration. They are hung above the main entrance of the house. The first guest to enter the house after sunset on the Spring Equinox should smash the pomegranate against the door. The number of seeds that get scattered is believed to be directly proportional to the amount of good luck the family will be blessed within the upcoming year. Friends and neighbors hang bulbs of onion or something similar on the front door and windows to promote prosperity and good harvest. After dawn the day after the Spring Equinox the homeowner takes the bulbs inside the house and keeps them in the house the rest of the year. An extra place is set during the evening meal for Heliosa.

Summer Solstice - The festival begins with a footrace to the temple. A procession follows bearing food for Heliosa. The statue of the goddess is cleaned and, in times of war, dressed in armor. Games are then held in her honor. After dark, wine is offered to Phoebus so that rain will come to the crops.

Stymphalian - The slaying of the horned dragon Khallgan with the Stymphalian Spire is celebrated between six weeks six days and nine weeks after the summer solstice. The slaying is reenacted at multiple venues throughout the day. The best actors are selected to perform the reenactment at the temple at sunset. Grilled and smoked fish are handed out to children and the poor. Javelin throwing contests are held all day.

Autumn Equinox - All women in the town gather at the threshing floor at dawn. They feast (eating cereals, fish, and cakes shaped like 'the symbols of sex' but no meat) and compete in athletic games. The men join them at midday. Wine and bawdy music are enjoyed in abundance. Revelry is a very important aspect of the festival. At dusk, the women leave.

Winter Solstice - Bonfires are lit. Singing and chanting fill the air. Gift-giving is a common practice. The tone is generally solemn.

Illness, Death and the Pyre

When someone dies the body, which is washed, anointed and adorned with a wreath, is laid out for viewing. The gathered family members lead the mourning by chanting dirges. Mourners will sometimes cut off a lock of their hair and braid it into the departed's. Nothing f the dead is to be kept, or they will haunt you. A loaf of bread sweetened with honey is often made to send with the departed. The Pyre is must be lit by the third day after death. Once the cremation is complete, the house and household objects are thoroughly cleansed with seawater and hyssop (a mint-like plant). Afterward, there is a funeral feast called the perideipnon. The departed is considered the host, and this feast is a sign of gratitude towards those who took part in sending them off.

Sickness and Medicine

The Four Humors Good health comes from a perfect balance of the four humors blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Consequently, poor health resulted from an improper balance of the four humors. Crisanian physicians have documented numerous illnesses. Being too hot, cold, dry or wet disturbs the balance between the humors, resulting in disease and illness. Sanitation, proper diet, and the mind are all important to health.

Ageing

Crisanians generally abhor aging as it represented a decline from highly prized youth and vigor. However, older warriors, elder philosophers, and statesmen are typically well treated.

Education

Children are trained in music, art, literature, science, math, and politics. They are taught at home, by their father, until they are about six years old, then they are sent to school, to ensure they can read, write, play an instrument, debate, cook, clean, and sew. At thirteen they enter the military and learn to be good warriors. If their father did his job right they will already know how to use a sica, shield, and spear.

Cuisine

Cutlery is not often used at the table in Crisania. Forks are never used, knives are used only to cut meat, and spoons are used for soups and broths; though bread can be used instead.

Dining out is common and there are plenty of inns, taverns, and restaurants to choose from.

Common Ingredients

Meat: Fish and shellfish are the main sources of protein. Goat, lamb, mutton, pork, poultry, rabbit and wild game are fairly expensive and so are eaten rarely. Most people eat beef only as part of religious celebrations where cows are sacrificed to the gods, and the meat is cooked and handed out to the public.
Dairy products: There is a wide variety of cheeses made in various regions across Crisania. Cheese, whether fresh, hard, or smoked is typically made from goat's milk; as is yogurt and butter.
Herbs and spices: Basil, bay laurel, caraway, chamomile, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, dill, fennel, garlic, marjoram, mint, onions, oregano, parsley, pepper, poppy seeds, rosemary, saffron, sage, Sideritis, and thyme.
Grains: Mostly wheat and barley, often baked into flatbreads or mixed with legumes for salads and soups. Bitter vetch is considered a famine food, its primary use is to feed cattle.
Legumes: Black bean, broad bean, chickpeas, fava beans, garden pea, grass pea, lentils, and kidney bean
Vegetables: Asparagus, Artichokes, Cardoons, Carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, green peppers, Leeks, okra, onions, potato, Radishes, Squash, tomato, Turnips, Wild celery, and zucchini. Vegetables are eaten as soups, boiled, or mashed, seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, herbs, or fish sauce. In the cities, fresh vegetables are expensive, and therefore, the poorer city dwellers have to make do with dried vegetables.
Fruits: Apples, apricots, bigarade (bitter orange), carobs, figs, grapes, honeydew melon, jujubes, lemons, olives, oranges, peaches, pears, plums, pomegranates, and quinces.
Nuts: Acorns, almonds, beechnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, and walnuts. Seeds and nuts are included in everything from pastry to main dishes.
Greens: Amaranth, arugula, bitter dock, black bryony, black nightshade, borage, bur chervil, cabbages, cress, dandelion, golden thistle, hartwort, lettuces, mallows, mustard greens, nettles, and richardias.
Dressings and sauces: Honey, fish sauce, lemon juice, Hummus, Tahini, tzatziki, Melitzanosalata, Tirokafteri, egg-lemon sauce, olive oil, and vinegar.

Breakfast

A common breakfast, typically eaten at dawn, is barley bread dipped in wine, complemented by figs or olives. It is a quick and filling meal. Porridge is quite common as well, with the wealthy adding fruit, honey, and spices, while the poor grind acorns to boil. They also eat pancakes made from wheat flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk. These can be either sweet or savory.

Daktyla (mostly made in rural areas), Eliopsomo (bread with olives), Karydopsomo (bread with walnuts), Lagana (an unleavened bread), Pita, and Stafidopsomo (bread with raisins) are common substitutes the wealthy make for barley bread.

In some areas eggs with staka (clotted cream), pies made with cheese and butter, or yogurt with olive oil and walnuts are the go-to breakfasts. In others, it's toast topped with Tahini, avocado, or olive oil and a bit of cheese. Koulouria (bread rings covered in sesame seeds) is a cheap but surprisingly nutritious breakfast on the go.

A generous piece of homemade bread with some olives, wrapped in a clean kerchief, is the midmorning snack of choice for farmers and day laborers.

Lunch

Around midday, a light, portable lunch is eaten. Gyros, kabobs, and raw fruits and vegetables are as popular among shopkeepers as they are among laborers. Eggs scrambled in olive oil, feta, and fresh tomato purée, seasoned with salt, pepper, and oregano, or an omelet, plain or with cheese, chives, vegetables, mushrooms, and/or meat are also common lunch fair.

Dinner

Crisanians generally start a meal with an appetizer and wine or ouzo. The wealthy might have a cheese and meat tasting plate, Deep-fried or fresh vegetables to dip in a variety of sauces and dips, Dolmadakia (grapevine leaves stuffed with rice, vegetables and meat), Garides Saganaki (shrimp in spicy tomato sauce with feta cheese), Kalitsounia (small cheese and/or herb pies with many regional variations), grilled octopus in vinegar, oil, and oregano (always accompanied by ouzo), or Kolokythoanthoi (zucchini flowers stuffed with rice or cheese and herbs). Raw or preserved olives are a common appetizer among all classes, as is Saganaki. Saganaki, means 'small pan' but is used to say fried, usually refers to fried cheese but can be applied to many other foods.

A salad, one of the most important dishes, is next. Salads are made out of peppers, onions, and cheese, or wilted greens, and often dressed with just olive oil and lemon juice. Horiatiki, or country salad, is inexpensive but common among all classes. It is made with tomato, cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, and kalamata olives, dressed with olive oil. Cracked wheat and lemon juice are added in the south, where they also use spring onions instead of red onions. Horta is wild or cultivated greens, steamed or blanched, and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. In lean times potatoes are added and it is eaten as a light meal. Cabbage salad is made with very finely shredded cabbage and carrot and dressed with salt, olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar dressing.

The main course is often a meat dish with several side dishes for the wealthy and often a single dish for the poor.

As soups are cheap to make they tend to allow more variety in the diet and are served frequently by the lower classes, for the wealthy they are a winter food. Lentil soup is the workman's typical dish, usually served with vinegar and olive oil. Fasolada is common as well, being served in just about every inn in the nation. It's a white-bean soup with tomato, carrot, and a generous amount of celery, often paired with a variety of salty side dishes (like olives or anchovies). Spetsofai is a stew of country sausage, green mild peppers, onions and wine. Stifado is rabbit or hare stew with pearl onions, vinegar, red wine, and cinnamon (goat can be substituted for game). Onion soup served with vinegar, chickpea soup, fish soup with carrots, parsley, celery, potatoes, and onion, and offal soups are among the most common.

Vegetarian dishes and oven-baked layered dished are another way to stretch coin without losing quality. Where Ayleans would use pasta, Crisanians use sliced eggplant, zucchini, squash, leafy greens or phyllo pastry. Any oven-baked layered dished can be made without meat and/or served in a hollowed out eggplant, zucchini, or squash (this is also occasional done with tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables). Tomato sauce is typically used at the bottom, while another sauce is on top. Feta (sometimes in combination with ricotta cheese), onions or scallions, spinach, and ground meat is by far the most popular variation. A leaf vegetable and rice cooked in lemon and olive oil sauce, tomato fritters with mint (fried in olive oil and typically served with fava), and artichoke hearts, potatoes, carrots baked with olive oil, and dill are the most common vegetarian dishes.

Popular meat dishes include fried meatballs (with a sauce either to dip or poured over); sausage fried with nuts and vegetables; long shaped meatballs with cumin, cinnamon and garlic and boiled in tomato sauce with whole olives (often served with rice or mashed potatoes); lamb or goat baked in a clay pot with large grains and tomatoes, gyros (especially with peppers); lamb marinated in garlic and lemon juice, then slow-baked on the bone in a pit oven; oven-baked lamb with potatoes and other vegetables; grilled lamb chops with lemon, oregano, salt and pepper; oven-baked chicken with potatoes (usually stuffed with fresh fruit); pork with celery; mackerels oven-baked or fried; grilled cuttlefish; grilled octopi; calamari; and grilled swordfish with zucchini, squash, green onions, fresh rosemary, olive oil, red potatoes, tomatoes and salt.

Sweet spices are often used with pork, lamb, or goat meat.

Desserts

Common dessert ingredients include nuts, honey, fruits (fresh or dried), and phyllo pastry. Baklava is very common. Diples are less common but always found at festivals. It is made of paper-thin, sheet-like dough which is cut in large squares and dipped in a swirling fashion in a pot of hot olive oil for a few seconds, then immediately sprinkled with honey and crushed walnuts. Finikia is a cookie topped with chopped nuts. Galaktoboureko is custard baked between layers of phyllo and then soaked with lemon-scented honey syrup. Karydopita is a cake of crushed walnuts, soaked in syrup. Koulourakia is butter or olive-oil cookies that are sprinkled with sesame seeds and shape into a spiral. Kourabiedes are cookies made by kneading flour, butter, and crushed roasted almonds, then generously dusted with powdered sugar. Loukoumades are essentially fried balls of dough drenched in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon, typically served with sesame seed. Loukoumi is a confection made from starch and sugar, and flavored with various fruit flavors, with rose water considered the most prized. Pasta flora is a simple jam-filled tart with lattice. Pasteli, or sesame seed candy, is a confection of sesame seeds and sugar or honey pressed into a bar or ball. The texture may vary from chewy to crisp and other seeds and nuts may be added.

Snacks

Crisania will often have a light snack during business meetings or social gatherings, and always eat something if they are drinking alcohol. Dipping fresh or deep-fried vegetables into any sauce is a popular snack. As are olives paired with cheese, cheese with fruit, and fruit with nuts and yogurt. Sweet or savory phyllo packets or bread topped with staka and spices are less common, typically eaten by children and heavy drinkers.

Beverages

A variety of beers are made by fermenting a mixture of mashed barley or wheat with herbs and date syrup or honey. It is then mixed with water and filtered. Wine and Ouzo are very common. As is brandy and various and local liquors and spirits. Citrus, cinnamon, and anise are popular flavours for alcohol.

Water and tea are common choices to drink when one does not want alcohol. Water is often flavored with citrus juice. Tea comes in a few select varieties: chamomile, ironwort, Mint (fresh from the garden), or sage (especially mountain sage).

Other common beverages include coffee (hot or cold), dark cherry syrup (mixed with cold water), fresh strained orange juice, and lemon juice either mixed with carbonated water or flat mineral water and you added sugar to taste.

Milk is rarely drunk, as it is considered barbaric. Milk is used for cheese production.

Commerce

Imports: barley, cheese, glass, grain, pork, perfumes, spices, and wheat.
Exports: beer, figs, fish, lamp oil, livestock (mostly goats and sheep), metalwork, olives, olive oil, pottery, and wine.
Currency: Carved pearls and obols (flat iron rods) are the most common, but electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) and pure silver coins - both struck with the Solitaria's image - are used. The coins are essentially billion and a Thebian coin is just as valuable as a Crisanian one.
Taxation: Direct taxation is not well-developed. A tax on the wealth of the very rich is levied only when needed. The wealthy are expected to support public works. Indirect taxes are quite important. Taxes are levied on houses, herds and flocks, wine, and hay, among other things. Some cities generate funds in other ways, such a gold mines, or taxes on business.

Traits

The following are regional traits for Crisania:

City Gaurd: Being trained in the city guard has taught you how to pick out trouble before it starts. You gain a +1 to Initiative, and you are always able to act during the surprise round and drawing a weapon is a free action for you during that round.

Scout: Keen eyes and ears have served you well in your military service. You gain a +1 to Perception and perception is always a class skill for you.

Prompt Reaction: You are quick to react in any situation. You gain a +2 trait bonus on initiative checks.

Wilderness Patrol: You served your two years in the wilderness between cities, keeping bandits and large predators down. You gain a +1 to Survival and Survival is always a class skill for you, and +1 to damage rolls against animals or one subtype of humanoid. This damage is not multiplied on a critical.

Gear

The following is a list of gear commonly available in Crisania:
Weapons: Javelin (akontia), Lance (xyston, Calvery only), Long spear (sarissae, infantry only), Short spear (Doru), Short sword (xiphos), Short bow (toxa), Sling (sfendonai)
Armor: Breastplate (bell cuirass or linothorax for infantry, or muscle cuirass for Cavalry), Greaves (See Piecemeal Armor), Military Belt (See Piecemeal Armor), Tower Shield
Adventure Gear: Backpack, Bedroll, Cooking Kit, Flint and Steel, Mess Kit, Shovel, Soap, Trail Rations, Waterskin

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