Sernanous

Basic overview:
Senanous is a small island located off the coast of Lancret and Ludklien. The island is largely undeveloped forest with winding dirt paths that lead to several small villages with small ports, no ship bigger than a one mast. These ships are meant for sailing and traveling to collect wealth, to explore, and to collect livestock, though they do not tell outsiders of their home island, for fear of invasions. The winters are usually harsh and the summers rarely getting warm enough to cause a significant heat change.

History:
Not much is known about the history. The original three founders, and their men, who first discovered the island many centuries ago, took a vow of silence to keep the main lands from knowing of such an island. Now, their names and tales have long since been forgotten, though their religion and myths stay alive and live on despite their deaths. It is believed though, that the three small village names are based off of the three leaders from centuries ago, leaving their legacy in the small villages they created.

The three villages have stone roads and wooden walls, protecting them mostly from wild animals, and providing ease of transportation.

Military:
The military is the majority of the citizens. People over the age of three begin training and at age sixteen, they are considered combat ready, though the continue their training until their early twenties. The style mimics that of the Vikings and the Celts mixed, with their most dangerous weapon being their chariots/phalanx, and their strongest defense being their shield wall, with different variations depending on what they fight. Their tactics vary as well, depending on the situation and the enemy they fight.''' '''

Amongst these fighters are berserkers, who enter combat completely naked, save for the body paint, weapon, and shields they carry into combat. This, aided by their guerrilla tactics, and other scare tactics help cause fear and demoralize any enemy they face. They are aided by the fact that members of the elite, and their own, sharpen their teeth and cut their teeth to create a more fearsome look, as well as charcoal linings in the cuts of their cut teeth.

The average 'soldier' is expected to have their own arms, which is usually swords, axes, harpoons, javelins, slings, bows, and shields. Each small village functions like it's own separate entity, with a total of three small villages able to put out a little over seven thousand strong, leaving behind woman under the age of twenty to protect the house with the children and elderly. These warriors are never afraid of death, and keep their religion close in mind when they attack. The total population though, is around seven thousand, five hundred and ninety.

A few Elite members who continue their training and beliefs past age twenty become 'royal' guards, which follow strict guidelines and learn martial arts on disarming an opponent, as well as other martial art training. There are a total of about five hundred and fifty elite members, twenty of them being the royal guards who keep at their training and are prepared for most situations should they occur.

Along with their chariots and berserkers, the small villages also boast celtic war dogs. Though most families keep them as guard dogs. However, each small village keeps about 500 warhounds (about 1,500 total), kept and trained to hunt wolves, bears, and deer as well as fight humans in combat by taking down men mounted on horses to be killed by either the dog or the soldiers.

The Navy compared to the ground troops is however, lacking. Though the small villages each have a hand full of warships, they are used for transportation and lack anything better than an archer's nest and a metal ram, with spots for shields along the hull.

Update: With the advancements in the navy, Sernanous has a formidable navy of roughly 61 ships, ranging in various sizes and armorment. While the most common ship is used for transport, making up half of the navy (30) The villages also boast small ships with metal plating along the sides, with reinforced shields and leather sails, with an archers nest. The navy also boasts a medium sized ship with the same reinforcements but more room for people and supplies. Both types of ships have variants with no armor, used mostly for escorting or traveling/exploring.

Update- 7/10/17. Sernanians aquired 20 more heavily armored and armed ships for the war against Matrihm.

update-7/30/17. Population is around 6,000 and ships totaling about 40 due to the costs of the Matrihm war.

Culture and small villages:
The largest, most populated, and most powerful of the three is lead by the Gewun family, and has been lead under that family name for generations. The name is respectively named, 'Gewun village.' After the first three founders came together in what is now called Gewun square and fought for who would take the prime land, and prime ownership of the island. The Gewun family ultimately won the conflict and have since lived in the largest and most developed village.

Gewun village boasts the largest population of about four thousand three hundred and fifty men, women, and children. Gewun village is located on the west coast of the island, making it closer to the main continent than any other village. This village has the best trade and a good amount of military presence. However, this creates some instability. The warriors in the village train every other day, and have broken into split sections of training. This way, half the population of warriors train one day and the second half trains the next day.

Yudre village is on the northern coast and receives the least amount of goods, population, or military however, Yudre houses more berserkers and elite worshipers than any of the other villages, and also exports more iron and weapons. Yudre has a population of roughly one thousand, nine hundred and ten, mostly miners and blacksmiths who trains every day for a few hours, with full training once a week. This insures their men and women are combat ready no matter the day they fight, but keeps enough around for smithing and mining. Tredner Yudre is the current ruler of the village and is well liked amongst his people since he trains and pushes their training to the maximum they can withstand, and sometimes a little more.

Gustren village is about half way between the two villages and boasts the biggest farms, a decent sized army, and no port. The population is around two thousand, one hundred and thirty and is the least violent of the three. The village focuses more on worshiping the gods and goddesses, and shares their excess of food and textiles with the other villages. The military trains every other day, which allows more time on the farms and doing their jobs than the other two military plans. Dremi Gustern is the current ruler of the village. She cares for her crops with her people, which makes her well liked.

Though the villages work separately, they three villages have many things in common. The religion is called Sernanian, which is mostly peaceful in nature. It is unheard of for a civilian to not follow this religion, nor is there a large diversity in a village over which god or goddess is worshiped, though each village focuses on a particular aspect. For instance, Gustern village focuses on the nature loving and caring aspect that comes with their goddesses and hold rituals with sacrifices of food from their feasts as a way to return the energy into the universe, whereas Yudre villagers worship the war and smithing gods, much like the elite members or true berserkers do. Gewun village is considered the capital of the island however, and as such has more diversity in the religion.

Each of the village squares has a worshiping tree, though each village has a different type of tree. To the north, the Yudre have a large, old Ash tree that grows strong and proud in the village square. To the west, the large and sweet maple tree grows in Gustern square and to the east, the willow tree, with its many branches reaching down to the planet, grows tall in the town square of Gewun. Each tree is a variant of the tree of life held strong in the faith, and is used as an offering tree, a way to commune with the gods and goddesses. It is believed when one of the villagers dies, their soul goes to one of the trees and is put into the place where they belong, to be reincarnated or to simply venture into the universe with their other brothers, sisters and family, meeting in a place with the gods and goddesses.

Another thing the villages share are requirements and common enemies. Though they often fight over territory, the villages have agreed to share any new land they discover on their voyages, as well as continue to discuss training habits. This allows for the soldiers to maximize what they know and how they fight while giving the men and women the biggest edge in diverse combat.

Their common enemy is anyone who discovers the island, or trespasses on their island. They intend to keep the island well protected, and one of the first lines of defense is to not be seen. This is further strengthened by the vow of silence amongst non believers, an oath given by anyone of the faith.

Pirates are also a common enemy dealt with by the Sernanians as pirates who discover the island rarely make it out alive. Often seen as a sanctuary for pirates when it is first discovered, the Sernanians are quick to sink the ships or kill the pirates that land ashore.

Climate:
Sernanous experiences all four seasons, though summer is more of a pre-fall considering the temperature rarely gets above 70 degrees fahrenheit. The island is mostly forest, some parts denser than others, with small streams and rivers trickling down the mountain. The majority of the coast line however is cliff side, with rough waves and rocky protrusions preventing easy access to the coast However, there are a few sandy beaches with calm currents. Most of these beaches were converted into ports for the villages to use for fishing and exploration. Should the villages choose to export to other countries, their main exports would include fish, lobster, lumber, iron/steel, and weapons/armor, as well as mercenaries. They would import domestic farm animals, knowledge, land, and the common form of currency. The current form of currency is barter and trade between the different villages, though there are gold, silver, and steel coins, they are not intricately designed, save for a hammer on the face to prevent fakes from being easily made.

* There is a trade agreements and even a defensive pact has been made with Camdeon, and trade has been agreed upon with Helios and Arcadia.*

Significant artifact, harpoon of the gods:
The harpoon of the gods is named that because legend has it the gods and goddesses came together to smith the harpoon. Serrated edged around the point of the harpoon, the harpoon head is shaped more like a spear head with cuts in it and a barb than a harpoon. A length of chain and rope is attached to the back which allows for the thrower to haul over what they catch. A hand carved, maple wood handle that never seems to wear down or age also adds to its cold appearance, with ancient runes and an unknown, dead language carved into the light, durable unknown metal. The only person allowed cary the harpoon is the leader of the three villages, and is passed down from leader to first born child, regardless of the gender. Should the leader not bare children, the leader chooses one of the shaman who has trained their pupel, this insures the needs of the faith come before the needs of the corrupt.  

Other important notes:
The land is rich in hardly tapped magic due to the abundance of nature and the worshiping of it. There are only three shamans who can harness the power of the magic, one in each village, and those shamans spend many years learning on their own how to tap into its great power. Because of this, each shaman teaches only one student per lifetime, and makes great care not to davel in the darker sides, as is forbidden by their religion. These shawman use long rituals, blood sacrifice (usually their own) and other materials such as food from feasts, to worship and give tribute back to the universe and gods they worship. The common folk accept these shamans, called druids, and have kept magic legal in the island, most citizens even practicing some form of magic themselves (Though not the kind people usually associate with the term.) It would not be unheard of to find elementals high up in the mountains, and legends say of a fierce creature that lives on the mountain top, a dragon, where no one has visited before due to the sheer steep cliffs and unpredictable wind.

Sernanous also has a unique diversity of live, only found on the island. Lipinx are one such example, a unique Fae. Lipinx and the Sernanians have taken great care in keeping the biodiversity strong and proud, though Humans and Lipinx often clash.

Language:
Only the leaders know what the world perceives as common, and even than it is usually broken common. The people of Sernanous speak Sernanian, which would today sound like a mixture of German, Swedish, Finnish, Russian and Danish. This language is only native to the island, though is slightly similar to an old form in Ludklien, and the writing is in the form of runes, which is usually not considered a written language and is unique to Sernanous.