Allarian Philosophy

As reflected in the old state motto, Allarian culture revolves around honor and duty; and for Allarians, both are mainly social concepts. Honor means one’s prestige and reliability, that is, the trust one deserves; a true Allarian citizen aspires to be trusted and well-regarded by others. Duty represents one’s place in the natural order, and how it falls on every Allarian to uphold the law.

True Allarians will make sure that their duties are fulfilled, that their place in society is well tended, and that others know they can rely on them to do it. Only thus will a realm remain functional, united and powerful.

The Eliadu
The building blocks of Allarian culture and the most important tenets of its philosophy are all written in a single work—The Eliadu, the closest the Allarians have to a sacred text.

The Eliadu appeared at some point during the Age of the Covenant, written by an anonymous Ellari scholar - perhaps a cabal of scholars - that advocated against the unrestricted practice of Fai, the perils of dragonbonding, and the danger of unbound dreams allowed to enter the real world.

After the Null War, many took the text as prophetic; this included the First Dragon King Zai Qan, who adapted it to serve as the law of his budding nation. The Eliadu says - and to most Allarians, it proves - that order is stronger than chaos, that civilization is greater than individuals, and that acts are worthier than dreams. It praises beauty as a sign of virtuous practices, and predicts prosperity as a consequence of lawful behavior.

According to the Eliadu, the natural state of the universe is order—not a static, automatic order, but rather a constant, eternal process towards order. Things start out chaotic, but they gradually tend to become orderly, to fall into place. This applies both to the natural world and to one’s self. By addressing things and thoughts in their chaotic state, by grooming and distilling order out of them, both the individual and the state are made better.

The end result of this process, and the greatest conceivable ideal, is of course perfection, which translates in perfect beauty and perfect prosperity.

A person that observes honor in their interactions, duty in their practices and reflects upon the ordering of their inner self, is a person in the path towards perfection. Such an individual can only help improve the State, and such a State can only help improve the world.

Dream
The concept of Dream has always been part of Allarian culture, even as a dark force. The Dreambleed haunted the collective memory of Allarians. Null dream-invasions were a constant threat, barely kept away by stalwart, strict government measures. Fai creatures lurked at the kingdom’s borders and outside city walls, waiting for innocent citizens to leave their safe spaces to drag them screaming to a world of nightmares and madness. Fai hunter patrols routinely dealt with goblin nests and Fell hauntings. Silver elves, with their ‘Null Eyes’, were massively submitted to the Dreamless Treatment. And thus it was for half a millennium.

After the Queen’s Reforms, however, Dream has been reintroduced to Allarian thought as something of value, something worth pursuing. Despite the very real dangers of fey communities or the Fell Courts, Elyse commissioned dozens of works on the nature of Fai, and ordered the Dream to be reincorporated as a subject in all Allarian schools, which must now study both its negative and positive aspects. The latter include the ability to turn one’s hopes and goals into reality, which has become the guideline of Elyse’s reign. The Eliadu praises action over dreaming; Elyse brought back the value of dreaming to spur action in the first place.

The new Allarian motto, ‘Honor your Dream’, intends to blend the high aspirations of the Eliadu with the right of every citizen to hope and create the world they desire in their minds, to then carry it out into reality through honor and duty. For Elyse - and for the new official philosophy of the Realm -, the Perfection the Eliadu speaks up has always been impossible and incomplete unless we allow the Dreams of an individual to guide them to fulfil their aspiration, and create the Perfect world they have dreamed of. This, of course, links into the recent abolishment of the Dreamless Treatment, which has returned the right to dream to the silver elves, giving philosophical justification to a social overhaul.

Adui
As virtue and honor have countless names in Allarian society, so there are countless ways to teach them to the people. One of the most popular, and in fact one of the most popular cultural practices of Allaria, is the telling of Adui, which are a mix of poems, short fables and adages, intended to teach deep truths of the Eliadu through refined humor and winsome rhyme. Adui have always been a favorite pastime of Allarian scholars and commoners alike, and one of the best known—yet least understood—Allarian customs outside the Realm. One of the most famous adui in the realm regards the stars:

Longing for their light

Until dark shrouds again

And yet, they shall remain

as far as day, by night.

Others have clearer morals, or deal with more mundane subjects:

You broke my heart, and not

from evil, but misfortune;

I still love thee, but caution

asking me for a pot.

To find no wrong or right

of cobwebs in your finger;

Remains unwise to linger

for the spider to bite.

An Adui can have any subject, from magical experiences to everyday routine; from war to love, from a conversation between two people to an epic tale. Length also varies, from one simple quartet to a dozen or more. The anecdote always has some degree or irony or hidden meaning, and is usually told in rhyme form, sometimes even with music - which is always the same tune; the ‘Adui song’ which everyone knows, and stays roughly the same across each city or region.

Allarians place great importance in poetry, and Adui are expected to evoke deep feelings, both in word arrangement and in their symbolism. The beauty of an Adui is, in short, at least as important as the precept it teaches. Sometimes said teaching is fairly obvious in the words, but more often than not it remains hidden between the lines, at times so well that there are several interpretations of a single Adui’s meaning. Explaining an Adui is considered grossly bad form, which speaks ill both of whoever needed the explanation and whoever stooped to giving it. Not appreciating an Adui’s irony, mystery or simple beauty is a quick way to lose an Allarian’s respect.