Historia et Historiarum: Phoenicians
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*Suggested to be read with own discretion (no spoilers but maybe more fun to read them in the actual novel)
*The plan is to create more of these kinds of info texts
*This will be updated in a non-timely manner
*Maps and concept art can be found on my Instagram @AlexanderCa0
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Phoenicians are azure-skinned beings with fish-like tails. They hail from the ocean-rich world of Phoenicia where all the cities lay on the coast, as Phoenicians possess an innate proficiency in swimming, and have a strong affinity for the ocean.
Phoenicians are renowned throughout the universe for their skill in sailing and naval leadership. They utilized advanced ships known as triremes to establish colonies on numerous worlds. Unlike their close neighbors, the Olympian humans, the Phoenicians often sought to establish colonies through diplomatic means, by forming trade ties and agreeing to pay any tax as long as they would be allowed to worship their own gods and allowed to build large cities on the coast.
Like the Olympians, the Phoenicians are divided into city-states that occasionally engage in conflict with one another, but also among other beings if their child colony city is being threatened.
The Phoenicians are great traders, with large fleets moving cargo worth more than your average nation would make in a decade. These trade fleets would be known as pilgrimages of gold, as they brought not just prosperity to the Phoenicians, but to the ports where they stopped to trade. Many times, the god Eshmun would accompany one of these fleets.
Phoenicians value peace, but they are well-versed in the art of war. They ride hippocamps that can fly in the air or dive deep into the sea. With these massive beasts, they protect their ships and fight wars against many envious people.
The hippocamp riders are divided into many bands known as sacred bands. Each sacred band works as a mercenary core than can be purchased to serve on a pilgrimage of gold to guard the ships and their treasure or to hire to protect or establish a new colony.
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Baal, the patriarch
Baal, the god of oceans, is the powerful and benevolent ruler of the seas, known for his wisdom and fairness. He is the main god in the pantheon of Phoenician gods and is worshipped by seafarers, fishermen, and merchants alike. He is depicted as a muscular figure with a trident in hand, who has the ability to calm the roughest divine storms in the universe and guide gravity ships safely to their destinations.
Truth is, he rarely leaves the center of the Phoenician heaven, the city of Qarthadast.
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Tanit, the matriarch
Tanit, the goddess of beasts, is a fierce and wild goddess who rules over all creatures that roam the lands, seas, and even leviathans. She is known for her love of the wilderness and is often depicted riding a giant leviathan. Many people believe Tanit is the greatest god of the phoenician heaven and Baal is just living off the great power of his wife.
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Shemen, the god of war, and known as the failure
Shemen, the god of war, is the eldest son of Baal and Tanit. Though he is known as a god of war and battle, many see him as useless and as an utter failure. He had lost many times to other gods and those losses are best known by all.
Still, he shouldn't be underestimated, as he has the blood of both Baal and Tanit and they decided to raise him as a warrior and a soldier. From a young age he traveled with Geb, in creating new colonies and along the way came into conflict with many hostile beings, including demons.
He leads the Phoenician armies into battle and is often depicted wielding a sword and shield. He is worshipped by soldiers and warriors, who pray to him for victory and protection.
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Eshmun, the old god of trade
Eshmun was the god of trade, and the second son of Baal and Tanit. He was known for his wisdom and cunning in business, but also his kind nature. He never liked conquest and rather brought back wealth, but also brought it. He was the first one to make a pilgrimage of wealth, brought riches and wealth back to the phoenician heaven, and also gave prosperity to other worlds and nations he visited.
He was later joined by a young and enigmatic Phoenician called Kushor. He joined in and many believed the two were lovers. Unfortuinelty Eshmun died, when Sreifa killed him, right in front of Kushor.
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Geb, protector of the colonies.
Ged is the goddess of cities and adventure and is the protector of the colonies and those who live in them. She, together with Shemen founded many colonies and cities. A notable feat by Geb was when she founded the city and nation of Ghiliad on the world of Degolad.
Geb and Eshmun found the world inhabited by golden elves already but found a large island on the center of the ocean of Degolad where they founded the kingdom. Geb and Eshmun were legendarily known to have defeated two golden elven gods. Eventually, Relia came and caused the war to end at a standstill, with the phoenicians allowed to have their nation on the island.
Geb is still worshipped extremely by the people of the Ghiliad nation and by many other colonial cities, that Geb founded.
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Kushor, the one looking for vengeance
Kushor was a lesser god of wealth and was once the protector of the pilgrimages of wealth, but when Eshmun was killed by Strifa, an Arakne goddess, he turned his trading vessels and flying fortress into a war machine and is currently wondering the universe, in an attempt to kill any Arakne he gets his hands on.
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Malgurt, ruler of Malus:
There is another god also who lives in the colonial and nowadays independent world called Malus. On Malus, a god named Malgurt, the barbarian rules. In the world of Malus, crazed demons harass the Phoenicians constantly creating a more warlike Phoenicians who hunt down pirates and raid nations as revenge if their own people are attacked. These Phoenicians have evolved past their regular coast-friendly Phoenicians and have created their own distinctive culture. Even they look different, with their azure skins turning into a navy blue color.
Malgurt defeated Malus and banished him, forcing him to flee, but the world that still bore his name was forever to be infested with demons created by Malus. As he didn't receive any help from his parent cities or from any other god he declared his world's independence and told his people, that they are not to worship Baal or any of the other Phoenician gods. This caused a large schism that led eventually to war, but just like Malgurt had done to Malus, he defeated both Hadad and Shemen at once and declared that he would rest his battleax on Baal's head if he wouldn't let his world be. Eventually, peace had been brokered, but the two different Phoenicians that can be distinguished by the color of their skin still hold animosity towards each other.
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Hannibal, the scourge of the elves
Hannibal was a promising sacred band commander and was on his way to becoming a mighty general and leader of armies. He defeated a mighty Araknes fleet that had been harassing the pilgrimages of wealth and destroyed and killed a berserk god while defending the world of Malus. He was the only Phoenician god Malgurt truly respected and together made a bond of friendship. He was respected by all, even Malgurt, but his downfall came when Reema, an elven city conquered and destroyed Phoenician colony cities in the world of Latium.
At first, the Phoenician gods didn't intervene, fearing Thalos the golden, the god of all the elves. They allowed the destruction of the colonies on Latium, but as the tensions between the other elves and the golden elves grew, the Phoenician gods waited. After the kinship war and the death of Thalos, the Phoenician gods unleashed their full might on the Laten elves.
Baal and Shemen were humiliated by the elven gods of Latium, Jupiter, and Mars, and were forced back. Later Hannibal was promised ascension to the council of gods on Qarthadast if he would defeat the hated Laten elves, but that was not to be. For thirty years Hannibal waged war on the elves and battled their gods time after another. He had at one point could have defeated the elves of Latium, but Baal had decided to sue for peace, causing resentment in the young god.
When the war was over Hannibal had lost even one of his eyes, but had achieved nothing. This fueled his hatred and soon led his personal sacred band, known as the scourage of the elves, in a bitter revenge in trying to still win the war. What this needless bloodshed instead caused was the downfall of Hannibal. He became a child of pandora by sacrificing half of his army and by doing this, the Laten elves and Phoenicians joined forces to stop him. Only when Malgurt battled his old friend, did he finally retreat to the collapsed universe with the leftover of his sacred band, the scourge of the elves.