The best way to explore the twelve city-states of the Veridion League is to listen to them in their own words…

Austis

“Pride? What is pride but arrogance in comely attire? Does one take pride in drawing water from a spring? In rubbing the dust from one’s eye? Of course not. One does it because it must be done, and one does it well because to do otherwise is wasteful.”

“Bravery? Bravery is a lie concocted by cowards who are too afraid to flee. A soldier can puff up his bravery in the same way a fire can be fanned to burn brightly, but it is a false courage, and will be doused by a splash of cold reality. Coals do not burn brightly, but they are much harder to extinguish.”

“We have been given our duty by Auxus himself, thus our heart’s fire will not be extinguished. We destroy enemy armies the same way we draw water: efficiently and without hesitation.”

“Our armies cannot be defeated, but that is not due to bravery, nor do we take pride in that fact. It is our duty. And we, alone among the nations, remember our duty. So long as we serve the gods, we shall remain the best.”

Delphas

“That we are here, none can deny. So why did the gods create us the way they did? They remain silent on the matter, because testing us is part of the answer.”

“The gods are perfect in form and function, perfect in their power. Let us aspire to their greatness. Let us makes ourselves flawless in form and function, and with that perfection become more like gods. As our minds and bodies become ideal, we become the living proof of Mankind’s dominance over the physical creation left to us by our creators.”

“We can use that power to control the world around us. We demonstrate our power in contests of mind, body, and will. Within our own people, those with power use it to dominate our neighbors and control their actions both overtly and covertly. In this way, the best among us rise to greater power, just as the brightest flames leap the highest, a beacon for the rest.”

“Likewise, we engage other nations in contests of military force, diplomatic perspicuity, and secretive espionage, and there as well, we dominate and control.”

Eutalas

“Tell me, why does humanity stands above the rocks and sand of the world?”

“Civilization? I think not! Ants and termites build great cities of their own kind. Strength? Pah! Many beasts possess strength in abundance. Intelligence? Neither that; the gods created many intelligent beings. No, my friend, what elevates us above the world is in the viscera, where none can see. It is the inherent sense that we possess regarding justice, and goodness, and right, and fairness.”

“This inner imperative preserves the peace. It directs us to prevent the tyrant from using civilization’s laws for his own gain, the powerful from bullying their neighbors into submission, and the clever from cheating everyone about. With our noble actions we balance the divine scales within each of us.”

“One must set one’s mind not upon the things that are of this world, but those things that support this world. For those who fill their lives with the pursuit of wealth and pleasure are like carpenters building a tower without a foundation, but those who understand the hidden laws of reality walk with the sure step of the gods.”

Iacchas

“The world is an illusion, a progression of imagery that we perceive through our senses.”

“Consider this toga. You see a smooth garment, perfect in its form. It has bright colors and an orderly pattern across its margins. It defines its own existence. Ah, but we are drawn to see deeper. We pull at the hem, and find threads, then fray the threads to find the hair of goats. By virtue of the skilled hands of the artisans, this toga looks nothing like a clump of goat hair, and this dye nothing at all like the plants from which the color was pounded.”

“What a perfect allegory for the world. Everyone thinks they understand how and why things work, but truly they don’t! How can people happily persist in this self-delusion? I, for one, cannot. I must know why the world is the way it is, and I will find out. My people exercise our intellect, and carry discourse in subjects practical, theoretical, and metaphysical, all in pursuit of peeling away the veils.

Kertis

“There is a fundamental genesis in mathematics, a primal clarity that cannot be attained in the living world. Numbers are pure concepts, and are the foundation upon which the gods ordered all of creation. To understand numbers is to understand creation. In their turn, numbers give birth to geometry, with which we mere humans can transcend the mortal and endure forever.”

“We can build monoliths as great as mountains, great structures of marble and granite that will outlast the passing days of the world. Their beauty is found in their perfection, in the ratio of angles and distances, the interaction of light and shadow. It’s a perfection that the gods themselves enjoy upon their lofty perch of Lympaea.”

“Furthermore, our greatest calculists have produced wonderful inventions, capable of hurling a tree through the air, splitting the hardest stone, moving water uphill, and more. Eventually, we will find a way to build a path to visit the gods in their home, and ascend upon our greatest triumph to break bread with them, nevermore to be separated from our deities, and we will be immortalized, the prodigal children of the gods.”

Nemis

“No one likes us. No surprise, because of the sacrifice of our god. They don’t like us because we’re a bad omen; we remind them that things can go terribly wrong. They find security in the oversight of their gods, for all people belong to one god or another. Our god died, and he died at the hands of a mortal - his own son. Such a thing should never be. So our lives stand against everything that others clutch to in their fear.”

“And yet they do not see that we Nemir are more than a grim reminder. We are a step in the right direction, closer to equality with the gods. We no longer need a god to guide us, only to inspire us. Together, we can be as great as we want to be.”

“I think this was Nemeus’ plan. He, alone of the gods, wanted us to grow up. A good father wants his children to become adults and take their place at his table as peers. We have the mettle to do this. We are doing it, although the world sees only the blood of a god on our hands.”

Orolas

“Why even bother to live unless one spends time appreciating the world for what it is? While the others groan against the injustice and brutality of the world, we delight in its beauty, for finding beauty in the midst of such bleakness makes its appearance all the more precious. The cruel viciousness of the beasts makes their grace and countenance all the more compelling. And the shortness of our days upon this world makes our time here priceless, which means that art created from such days is priceless, too.”

“Yet beauty is not always evident. See the oyster: on the surface it is merely a rock, but on the inside, it is alive! And again, the oyster is a shapeless piece of flesh, but some carry within them a treasure beyond worth!”

“We live our life as if our days were art, and we seek the pearls within the human heart. Even an imperfection of appearance or character reminds us of the perfection we all strive to attain, thus imperfection itself is beautiful.”

Pylenas

“The mind is the greatest weapon the gods gave us. Most people will agree to that—well, at least they should—but few actually practice the art of the mind as a weapon. We do.”

“Naturally, our enemies—my apologies, let me rather say, our competitors seek to deny us this advantage. This is to be expected, of course, for it’s what we would do were the tables turned. Of course, we’d execute the tactic far better.”

“The most obvious scheme they employ is to brand deceit as a foible, something unethical or even, dare I say, evil. We find this most amusing, for while the deception of the tongue is branded nigh unto a heresy, the same does not follow for physical endeavors. If the master swordsman uses a feint to trick his foe and thence to impale him upon a gladius, is he not using his whole body to lie and thence to gain an advantage and ensnare his opponent? Why then is a lie using only the tongue any different? We seek to manipulate events to our advantage. It’s only natural.”

Rhodis

“The gods left this world behind to go and live in their estates on Lympaea. And that’s fine. It means this is our world now. Yes, we still listen to the gods, just as adults still seek the advice of their elders, but we live our own lives. We do what we want, how we want to. Me, I want to earn enough money to be able to relax on an estate the rest of my life, just like the gods up there do.”

“You know, a lot of people concern themselves with ‘why this’ and ‘why that.’ I’ve had enough of that, enough of self-styled philosophers asking themselves, “Why this dungheap?” and “What if it were blue?”

“I’d much rather know what something is than why it is. I’d rather know that a companion will stick by my side in the fiercest of storms than know whether he thinks time is fluid or granular. I’d rather know that someone is a shifty thief than know what twist of fate made a thief of an honest merchant.”

“That way, I know who to trust, and who to kill.”

Seris

“The gods created the world for us to live in. Look around, and what do you see? Trees, mountains, ocean shores, rolling hills covered in grass. Not a villa to be found, no gardens, no paved boulevards.”

“Yet others think that destroying the wilderness beautifies their lives. They mine a majestic granite cliff and leave an ugly scar in the hills. They spend countless hours carving and shaping the granite into paving stones, and then force workers to set them just so, in an attempt to create a ‘better’ path. But the grass always returns to show their folly.”

“How arrogant to think that human construction betters the creation of the gods. They build huge machines to break stone. The gods use water or plants to break stone, and do it much more easily.”

“Alone of the children of the gods, we have not spurned the gift of the world. We preserve a balance between ourselves and the wilderness. The others have all turned their back upon the beauty and bounty laid out for us. Their patron deities tolerate this conceit. We will not.”

Tellas

“What sets my people apart? Never really thought about it.”

“Guess I’d have to say that Tellar are what sets us apart. Our nation is strong, built on the strength of our hearths, the strength of our loyalty, and the strength of our people.”

“Yeah, the lowlanders know nothing about strength. They simper on about having a strong voice, or a strong personality, or a strong writing style. Can a strong writing style kill an ice wolf? No. They are weak, soft because they wallow in narcissistic luxury, looking after their own gain. They buy their security with coin; we earn ours with bone and blood.”

“We work for the whole nation, not for ourselves. We endure what must be endured without complaint. Perseverance is at the core of our people. Perseverance builds fortitude, and fortitude builds courage, and courage strength, and from strength springs the indomitable will of Telleia, thus we will never fall.”

“Luxury is for the dead. We embrace the times of trial. We glory in the conquest of torment. And let anyone who thinks we are not cultured say so to my face.”

Zilis

“There are those who run around and call us ‘irresponsible’ or ‘reckless.’ They don’t even know themselves, so how could they understand us?”

“For whatever reasons, the gods decreed that we would have a finite life; when it’s over - it’s over. Our story begins when we’re born into this world and we take that first breath into our lungs. That is our first experience and we hold onto it until we breathe it out when our story ends at death. In Zilis, we believe that each story should be as grand and full of excitement as possible. Not just a timid scriblle of a few hesitant words, nor a brazen slash that does nothing but waste parchment.”

“This is why we push ourselves to find our individual limits and then to expand those limits. At the same time, we learn that responsibility demands that we don’t knowingly reach in excess of our grasp.”

“Look, really, it’s very simple: if you only ever do those things that you have already done, then you have already become everything you will ever be.”