Of the early settlements by post-sapience Sek, the most important in the Avatian Empire’s history was the small village of Ava’Tia (“High Rock”). Set atop a Mesa in the high mountains and Founded to the south of the great Lezek canyons.
The town had a simple social structure that incorporated non-hunting duty. This allowed time to educate and create methods of record keeping
The Matron was the village chief, her responsibility was to ensure the health and protection of the sek beneath her. she would direct hunts, decide civil matters and ration food and water. the matron was always the last to eat and last to drink. the thought is that if she doesn't receive food then her guidance had failed.
The second most respected position in the village was that of the "scribe" who was effectively a teacher and caretaker for the young sek while parents were doing their part for the village, hunting, building and collecting water.
the Village of Ava'tia is eventually attacked by a neighboring village during the current matrons final days, Seeing her illness as weakness in the tribe.
the invasion was driven off and their Sur'ri became matron after slaying 26 of the near 50 invaders.
This lead to the legend of "Ve'Hada" the deathly protector of the village of ava'tia
The fall of Ava'Tia
Over the next few hundred years, the village grew into a small, primitive city. What had begun as a tribal settlement now held more complex social structure and early economics. Bartering had become commonplace, and Ava’Tia became well-known for abundance of resources and its comparative ease of life, even on their dying planet.
It was during this time that a Sur’ri named Litten Sahlas was born to Nera Sahlas, Ninth Matron of Ava’Tia. Since birth, Nera claimed her daughter Litten was a gift from God. And yet, beyond her service to the village as their Scribe, she was not expected to be of any real note.
However, in an invasion by the village of Rhadi, Litten first proved herself. Though Nera perished in the fight, Ava’tia fended off the attack thanks in no small amount to her daughter. 26 invaders perished at Litten’s hand. For her heroism and bravery, she was chosen to replace her mother as Matron.
With this first victory, the Sur’ri’s ambition was sparked. She changed her name from Litten Sahlas to Yari Litten Ve’Rek, or “God’s black-eyed hunter”. At this point, the “agelessness” of the Sur’ri was relatively unknown, something the power-mad new Matron took full advantage of. In her hundreds of years of power, she co-opted the legend of Ve’hada and painted herself as the godlike protector of her village. The 26 invading tribal warriors Yari defeated became an entire nation of 10,000 who perished at the wave of her hand. Her divinity unquestioned by her starry-eyed followers, Yari led the village to prosperity over her hundreds of years of rule.
However, envy and jealousy of Ava’Tia’s success eventually began to lead to tension with the neighboring city-state of Ho’Lek. While diplomacy between the two nations was able to briefly stem the tides, the War-mongering nation had begun making demands of the Avatians that could not be reasonably met, peace soon began to deteriorate. As tensions rose to a boil, Ho’lek dispatched their army. Ava’Tia unfortunately lacked any real standing force, and the city was decimated. The High Rock was absorbed into Ho’lek, and all but one perished.
In one of the darkest moments of the Empire’s history, Yari Ve’rek was taken captive as a prize of war by Ho’Lek, and placed into the ownership of the Fera family. A very large and ancient noble family, their past failed attempts to conquer Ava and to politically dominate Ho’lek in the past had cost them most of their hunting population, a loss they eagerly blamed upon Yari. This hatred, built upon a burning, deep-seated prejudice against the Sur’ri, had tempered into an intense religious zealotry. In the eyes of this crazed fanaticism, Yari and all of her kind had been demonized.
With their “devil” in their hands, the Fera family showed no mercy and provided the Sur’ri no dignity. Yari Ve’rek was gruesomely tortured, pushing the limits of her body’s survival. Arms were cut off, eyes were plucked out, ears were ripped off, and when the limbs would regrow, they would be removed all over again. Only fed enough to survive, she was confined in a cage too small to sit in, and only removed for more dismemberment. This became a twisted spectacle for the Sek of Ho’Lek, with the victory over Ava celebrated by publicly torturing the destroyed city’s old queen. As the centuries of abuse passed, her body began to wither and her Sur’ri regeneration powers neared their limits. This punishment was her life for 600 years, only ending upon her rescue in an invasion of Ho’Lek by the neighboring nation of Brohl, in a party headed by the Sur’ri Hazen Ba’sil. Hazen, who had previously been a travelling trader who occasionally passed through Ava’Tia, had previously pursued Yari romantically only to be turned down in favor of the fellow Sur’ri’s political ambitions, before accepting a position as an Archivist at Brohl. In the conflict, most of the leaders of the Fera family were killed by Hazen personally, ending the power of the 800-year old ruling family.
the invasion of Ho'Lek
Diplomatic options began to fail, The nation-state of Ho'Lek began making demands of the Avatians that could not be reasonably met, tensions rose to a boil and Ho'lek dispatched their army, Ava lacked any real standing force and was decimated. Their Surri was taken captive and tortured for 626 years. It is made a tradition to remove her eyes and cut her arms off- she is kept in a cage too small to sit in let alone lay. through the years she was asked if she would like to be killed. to which she always replied "No, I want to be present for the queens funeral".
The Avatian empire
Ava starts off as a small peaceful state that simply wants its own existence, but curiosity drives them to study the midlands ruins (link later) They are the first to reclaim several technologies that allowed the expansion of agriculture and access to long hidden water tables. allowing the small city to quickly flourish as its capacity to house, feed and employ rose to staggering heights.
Small wars were fought during these years, technology on both sides of these conflicts grew and became more dangerous. Ava eventually decided that it would be best to quell these skirmishes by expanding their empire to consume the less fortunate nations. both to spread and to maintain their own fortune.