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| Godless Oastaonia |
| Oastaonia:
�If the Gods are with us, then all is well.� That was ( and in many ways, still is) the motto of Oastaonia, perhaps the most pious of the Civilized Lands. During the Age of Heroes, Oastaonia was the home of the Gods� greatest champions, and the scene of the most epic clashes between good and evil. Though the nation bordered the Northern Wilderness, and was thus plagued by monsters and foul bands of marauding orcs, the people of Oastaonia were filled with a heroic optimism. The world, they believed, was destined to see good triumph over evil time and again; that was the will of the Gods. Thus it was never a surprise when young adventurers struck out from tiny Oastaonian villages, searching for monsters to slay and wrongs to right. The people knew that the Gods watched over them, and no righteous cause could fail. All of that ended with the deaths of the Gods. Their complete faith and reliance on the Divine Powers suddenly left them powerless and fearful. The nation�s many priests went mad, King Maslovan the Fearless hung himself in the throne room. The nation�s credo, long its rallying cry, suddenly became its curse; without the Gods, the people had no hope. Orcs invaded, unopposed. Monsters roamed the countryside, killing whole villages; the Oastaonian people fled, or, in some cases, simply allowed themselves to be killed, leaving ghost towns throughout the countryside.. A group of mad priests, powerless now, without their divine connection, dedicated itself to gathering up all sacred relics to their beloved Gods, and interring them within the ground. The former village of Rosoloaia became Godsgrave, the last resting place of the Heroic Gods. The Mourners (for that is what they called themselves) traveled throughout the world, gathering holy artifacts, which, because the death of the Gods had severed the world�s connection to the Spheres, had no power at the time. They brought them to Godsgrave, where they buried them in an elaborate necropolis. When Zarathos reconnected to the Spheres and raised his great army in the northlands, the relics of Godsgrave became his first objective. The lich�s mighty host invaded Oastaonia, and were scarcely resisted at all by the nihilistic inhabitants. During the invasion, many Oastaonians even joined suicide cults; pledging themselves to Zarathos and killing themselves so that they could live on as zombies; dead like their beloved Gods. Only the mad Mourners, trying futilely to defend their sacred necropolis, put up any fight at all. Even when Zarathos War was over, and the orcs and zombies of the lich�s army had been run off or destroyed, the people of Oastaonia scarcely seemed to notice. Today the country is one of vast, unpopulated, hills and prairies. For every inhabited village there are seven abandoned ghost towns from before the Deicide. These are often haunted by bands of orcs or, more often, the horror that killed the town in the first place. The populated places are hardly better. The average Oastaonian moves through his life in a deep apathetic depression. Only the barest minimum of work or commerce takes place in the cities and towns. People move lethargically from place to place, often going whole days without speaking at all. Suicides are commonplace, and expected. It is said that when the Gods died, the spirit of Oastaonia died with them, and it seems to be true, for few manage to rise above the oppressive apathy of that country. |