Purdue Fantasy Club

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====== Kelvar, Lord of Dragons ======

See also [[settings:jaern:Keerlevex|Keer'Levex]]

===== Ancient History of Kelvar =====
Kelvar and her brother, Grim-Notesh, are two of the original [[lore:creatures:greatbeasts:dragons|dragons]]. Nobody is entirely sure of their origin or ascension to divinity at that time, but both of them ended up as gods of dragons of Jaern. Kelvar's domain was that of the nurturing aspects of dragons. Specifically revolving around their leadership and dominion over nature, leadership and guidance of people and ruling. Kelvar desired to use dragons natural power to grow wealth and nations, while yet remaining above them. To do trade by barter and deals, over that of physical strength.
Grim-Notesh held opposing ideals to that of Kelvar. He and his children desired to rule as well, but by force. His domain encompassed the strength and desires of dragon, their primal nature and to hoard wealth. 

These opposing domains of Kelvar and Grim-Notesh led to many conflicts between the two dragon deities and their kin. In most cases, Grim-Notesh or a child of his would become an aggressor to one of Kelvar’s kin or a city under one of their protection. The child of Kelvar would often not respond to the aggression of it, instead seeking appeasement and to maintain the peace by what was needed, thinking themselves above responding by force. 

This progressed for several thousand years on Jaern, approximately one generation of dragons before the peace was finally, truly broken. There existed the kingdom of Naisian, a large prosperous kingdom lining the coasts of long forgotten island. The king himself had drawn the attention of Kelvar at the time, and together they had a child. Grim-Notesh, sensing the immeasurable wealth available and hidden there, could no longer contain his own nature, and set the city alight. Grim-Notesh razed the city that night, taking all of it for his own, and killing Kelvar’s child and husband. Kelvar, devastated by this event, declared war on her own brother, starting the first dragon war.

The war was long, bloody and brutal, even by the standards of the time. Most cities found themselves caught in the middle of battles of dragons, burning to the ground by the end of each fight. Millions were displaced, islands and lands were rendered uninhabitable. Kelvar, sensing the movement of the other gods in response to the distress of people of the world, began coming up with a plan to end the war, once and for all. The plan was set to take place on the seventy seventh anniversary of the start of the war. During the early morning hours, Kelvar challenged her brother to a duel to decide the war. God versus Goddess on an island, isolated from the world around. The duel began as one would imagine, fierce and bloody, with Kelvar quickly becoming overwhelmed by Grim-Notesh’s primal nature. It was at this time Kelvar activated her trap. The island itself took both of them, and using the souls of all the deceased dragons, ejected Grim-Notesh into the void beneath the Beneath. It was there that he was trapped and bound, to be forgotten in the annals of history. 

This battle did leave Kelvar mortally wounded. With the assistance of her high priest, Kelvar put a small fraction of her soul into a mortal, to be passed down through the centuries and to keep the priesthood going. Kelvar then retreated to a hidden domain, where she fell asleep for the next several millennia.

Kelvar herself has recently woken up during the year 2554 SD on Jaern, only to find her priesthood in complete disrepair and completely forgotten.

===== Current Day History of Kelvar =====

Since Kelvar woke up, four large events have occurred as detailed below:

==== The Kingdom of Derago ====

On Jaern, using the Great Rice Patty and Centralia as a home base, the Kingdom of Derago set up their castles and fortresses. The Kingdom of Derago sought to use Kelvar and her piece of remaining soul, to ascend one of their own to new levels of power, and to bring about the extinction of dragons on Jaern. Derago was extremely xenophobic, and sought to bring about the extinction of all non-humanoid races, and to force other non-humans into subservience to them. During a wedding event of Derago, the piece of Kelvar’s soul that had been passed down was supposed to be given to the high priestess of Derago, but due to her own betrayal, it was shunted into a fetus in the crowd. A fight broke out, and the mother fled. After she gave birth to the child, she was later hunted down and cursed by priests of Derago, causing her death. This child who now had the soul of Kelvar is Keket Kessindra. She spent the next 40 years growing as a half dragon on the island of Midnights Rest, after which time Derago began moving again. 

During that 40 year period, Derago had fallen into disrepair, lacking funding and a source of dragons to harvest for their powers. They had many still captured and tortured within their dungeons, but they were slowly dying off. Derago began making moves around Jaern, starting a conquest in the north, and attempting to find and use the soul of Kelvar to destroy the island of Centralia. Thanks to the heroics of several adventurers, namely Topaz, Kai Lee, Beowulf, Keket, Selene, and Gardenia; Derago and the five knights that led them were destroyed, and for the first time in millennia, the soul of Kelvar within Keket began to wake up. 

==== Keer'Levex ====

Following the events of Derago, Kelvar’s ancient Kingdom of [[settings:jaern:Keerlevex|Keer'Levex]] was refounded by Keket and Kelvar. The island was old and abandoned, though it still hosted a magnificent empty temple to Kelvar. Through adventuring and deals made with the priesthood of Vormaxia, Keer’Levex has become an official kingdom on Jaern. Since then Keer’Levex’s population and dragon presence has expanded, with many dragons seeking their kin from around Jaern. During the downtime before Dragons Gate, Keket was crowned empress and high priest of Kelvar by the last remaining servitor of Kelvar, a dragon named Eivor.

Since this time, Keer’Levex has expanded and placed 5 shrines to Kelvar around Jaern. One resides on the island of [[settings:jaern:therhine:centralia|Centralia]], one in [[settings:jaern:frosland|Frosland]], one in [[settings:jaern:ageron|Ageron]], one in [[settings:jaern:lojem|Lojem]], and one on the snowy planet of [[settings:kleemudor|Kleemudor.]] These shrines currently function as temples to Kelvar while more temples are being built.

==== Dragon’s Gate ====
Following the rebuilding of Keer’Levex and the shrines. It became noticed by the first new priests of Kelvar, that a black ooze was corrupting the shrines, and that it needed to be investigated by adventurers. Adventurers investigated the shrine that was located in the space station, and found that a portal had been formed by it to the plane of Dragon’s Gate, Kelvar’s dragonic afterlife. The adventurers gathered what was needed and set off into Dragon’s Gate. 

Inside, they discovered that the plane was essentially collapsing and was being invaded by an extra dimensional force known as the Drakias. These Drakias were seeking to use Dragon's Gate as a place to launch an invasion of Jaern. By using 5 pillars within the plane, the Drakias would make an immortal force of spiritual shadow dragons, using the souls of the deceased dragons within Kelvar’s domain. A full war was initiated between the souls of Kelvar’s domain and the Drakias, with adventurers going to purify all 5 towers to end the Drakias once and for all.

==== Grim-Notesh’s Return ====

The return of Grim-Notesh was a short one and quickly squashed by adventurers. Grim-Notesh attempted to return to Jaern from one of the pits of the Beneath by dragging the city of Midnights Rest to him and feeding on it. However, after dragging the city into the Beneath, adventurers quickly found his pit where he was chained and destroyed his soul. It was a touch anti-climactic, but handled extremely efficiently. 

====== Priesthood of Kelvar ======

The Priests and Priestesses of Kelvar are by and far one of the flashiest of known priesthoods. Their clothing and robe is often adorned with jewels and made from fine and expensive silks, showing their wealth and prestige. Many of the priests of Kelvar themselves were of nobility or mercantile classes, this has lead to the priesthood in some circles to have a bit of a gaudy or haughty image, though doubters will quickly learn they can easily back up their words, priests of Kelvar are often taken in at the age of 5 and will often stay within the temples for the the next 14 years as they are trained. 

Priests of Kelvar are often viewed by the outside world as traveling nobles. Seen as wealthy and eagerly brought into the homes of the local elite. Priests of Kelvar also excel in settling disputes around that of nobility and heraldry.

The priesthood of Kelvar is divided into three groups, each group is responsible for certain tasks within the priesthood. Uniting the three groups of the priesthood is the high priestess, whom is also designated as the emperor of Keer'levex. The position is currently held by [[adventurers:Keket_Kessindra|Keket_Kessindra]]. The high priestesses two roles are designated to organization of the Awakening Ceremony and other festivals, and settling disputes between the groups.

==== The Svant Anhew ====

The Svant Anhew, the guardians of the grand halls and vaults of the Priesthoods, these priest are trained as warriors and guardians to protect the temples of Kelvar. These priest often don heavy scaled armor to match the different coloration of dragons, their weapons often imbued with different elements and many having learned from the School of the Dragon as a form of worship, these priests will often be stationed in the temples and vaults to guard from attackers or thieves who would take the treasures. 

==== The Kamatiri ====

The Kamatiri, diplomats and scholars for Kelvar’s priesthood. The Kamatiri are responsible for the preservation of knowledge about dragons as well as passing on the knowledge of the ancient rites and rituals of the priesthood. When not sequestered in their libraries the Kamatiri act as diplomats for the priesthood of Kelvar, the Kamatiri are expected to be well versed in Rhetoric, Philosophy, Politics, and Oratory debate. The Kamatiri also oversee the initiation of new priests and priestesses joining their ranks and will act as mentors for the new clergy members for up to 14 years. 

==== The Munnucs ====

These individuals of Kelvar’s priesthood serve a role as the proselytizers and speakers to the masses. Unlike most of the other priesthood the Munnucs are tasked with going out into the wider world and converting people to become worshipers of the Dragon Goddess. The Munnucs will travel alone or occasionally in pairs across Jaern and sometimes even to other planes such as Cahyali or even further beyond. These priests are well versed in public speaking but are also a surprising repository of cultural knowledge as well. Given that many of them travel to far reaching places they have a strong grasp of linguistics and are masters of heraldry and genealogy. 

===== Lore, Requirements, Festivals/Holidays, and Tenants of the Priesthood =====

=== Awakening Ceremony ===

All the priests return to Keer’Levex once a year to attend the awakening ceremony. The ceremony is a way that the priests give thanks to the Goddess Kelvar as well as welcome in new candidates to the priesthood. The ceremony has the high priest or priestess create a great mass of whirling flames around a sacred Chalice called the chalice of Fora. As a sign of faith the new priests will enter into the vortex of flames while chanting prayers to Kelvar, with her power the new candidates will not be harmed by the flames and when they drink from the chalice. After which they will receive their connection and divine powers from Kelvar.

=== The Festival of Fire ===

The Festival of Fire is a annual event held on the island of Keer'Levex and put on by the current council of the island. While not a mandatory event, its highly regarded as proper form for much of the priesthood to show up, if able. The event is meant for fun, and consists of the finest craftsman of Jaern selling their wares, games for the young and old to play, and a lot of food and fire. Some of the elder dragons remember when the Festival of Fire used to encompass more to it, but much of the that has changed since Derago wiped many of the dragons off Jaern. In such a way the festival also is seen as a remembrance of ages past.
 Its common for the high priestess to give a speech regaling many of the greatest accomplishments of Jaernian dragons through the year, as well as some of their failures and where they can improve. 
It should also be noted that attending the Festival of Fire is 'free', but donations are socially expected as it is the largest fundraising event for the kingdom during the whole year. The proceeds of which help keep the priesthood running.

==== Requirements of Entry ====

Priests of Kelvar must take either the Noble or Wealthy perk in character creation. 

==== Tenants of the Priesthood ====
(unfinished)
“Raise the kingdoms up. And build the domains” 

The followers of Kelvar teach about the values of leadership, majesty, and stewardship.  

==== Spells of Kelvar ====

Priests of Kelvar can use all core divine groups, along with the following five:
  - Land Forms as per Osiris. However the transformations are limited to Drakes, Dragons, and Wyverns. These transformations can be found in additional materials.
  - Fire Magics as per elemental. However learning it as a priest of Kelvar gives and uses DU, instead of EU. Fire magics cannot be purchased twice between elemental and divine.
  - Sageco (Maturity) (At'ena)
  - Hope/Despair (Orus)
  - Order (Ra)

=== Skills of the Priests of Kelvar ===

Priests of Kelvar, due to their 14 year training, are skilled in the following skills and can buy them at base cost.
  * Accounting (Science) 
  * Leadership (Psychology) 
  * Military Protocol (Lore) 
  * Heraldry (Lore) 
  * Diplomacy (Psychology) 

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Kelvar and Keer'Levex are run as a joint project between Dan W and Noah K. Please contact them for more information.