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Occupying the entirety of what was once known as the Italian Peninsula, and stretching across the areas formerly known as Switzerland, Austria, and much of southern France and Germany. Having risen around the city of Fiara (what was once known as Florence), the Aurentines are a sophisticated, cosmopolitan empire. Though expansion has slowed during the past century or so, there is always the threat of the borders of the Aurentine Empire expanding into the surrounding regions.

Many Aurentines take a deep pride in the rich history of the region, and in the long corrupted legends of ancient Rome and the Roman Catholic Church. The Department of Antiquities is one of the most heavily funded departments within the Aurentine Empire, second only to the military.

As with any multinational empire, the Aurentines are ethnically diverse, and in a typical Aurentine city many different ethnicities, languages, and religions may be found.

Aurentine religion is as diverse as its population, though there are remnants of the Roman Catholic religion that helped define the Italian peninsula for millennia, many of the saints have been adapted into the large, diverse pantheon of the Aurentines. The urban centers of the Aurentine Empire tend to worship deities of order and commerce while more rural communities tend to worship deities of fertility more fervently.

In the more remote regions of the Empire, more animistic religious practices hold sway. The "barbarian" tribes in the northernmost portions of the Empire tend to worship mountain, sky and river deities. Some of them are rumored to practice rituals involving human sacrifice, but no one has yet confirmed these rumors.



Pertren: The chief deity of the Aurentine Empire; the Gatekeeper. He is a deity of justice and order, judging the dead, rewarding the righteous with a peaceful afterlife and casting the unjust into Oblivion. Son of Tarnus and Terra, chiefs of the Old Gods. Depicted as

Myrna: Goddess of diplomacy, wife of Pertren. Daughter of Adurnus and Metra. Depicted as an austere but beautiful woman in her thirties.

Merth: Patron god of travelers and merchants, son of Pertren and Myrna. Depicted alternately as a handsome young nobleman or a middle-aged traveler.

Seren: Goddess of fertility and the harvest, sister of Myrna, wife of Valcus, mother of Fiyra.

Valcus: God of fire, husband of Seren, father of Fiyra, brother of Destra.

Destra: Goddess of the hearth, protector of the Empire, sister of Valcus. Her symbol is used as a ward against fire.

Avyn: God of war, honorable combat, and victory. Son of Pertren and Myrna, twin brother of Mird.

Mird: God of war, brutality, and carnage. Twin brother of Avyn.

Bavynus: God of food, celebration, and hospitality. Son of Pertren and Myrna.

Patrus: God of death, punisher of the unjust dead. Brother of Pertren, husband of Fiyra, father of Aestrus and Aestra.

Seline: Goddess of the moon, recognized as Serenity's ascended form. Believed to preserve the Earth from harm.