History
It is said that long ago, when the gods were creating the world there
was a god named MOBY who chose a small island in the middle of a
large ocean. It is said that he created a people called the ASCHOR.
These were a pleasant people, fishermen and craftsmen and they
populated the island they called Hallasand.
The Aschor lived on Hallasand happily for many years, building two
towns, ALANTRO and KALATO. Although friendly, they were fiercely
competitive, each trying to make their town more pretty and more organised than
the other.
However, as the seasons changed, and the west winds blew... the
weather on the west of the island became worse whereas the weather on
the east of the island improved. In the west, the town of Alantro had
terrible storms while in the east, Kalato had sunshine. The fierce
clouds never seemed to cross the rocky peaks of the Aschor ridge. So
the people of Alantro praised to Moby, and the storms continued to
come. The people of Kalato praised Moby and the weather remained fine.
As the years passed, the Aschor split and spoke less and less. The
harsh weather continued and the people of Alantro became tougher and
darker, thinking that Moby had turned evil. On the other side of the
island, the people of Kalato thought that Moby was a loving god and
so became a gentle and happy people.
The competitive spirit that the two towns had eventually split the
two people, the people of Alantro call themselves the Tor and the
people of Kalato, the Mitre. And thus the split has ever been.
Communication between the Tor and Mitre is minimal, and ever only on a business manner. The Tor do not trust the Mitre as they feel that the Mitre must be in league with another God for being so well rewarded. The Mitre feel a deep sorrow for their cousins, the Tor, and would dearly love to become friends once more, reuniting the island. However, any attempts to seal the breech is only met with distrust from the Tor.
The Tor
Living within the almost permenantly raining city of Alantro, the Tor are essentially a either miserable or deeply evil. The Tor are either greedy, untrustworthy, cunning, manipulative or they are nice people driven to misery because they live amongst some of the most foul people ever to have walked on Hallasand. The differences are stark but normally well covered by the cunning. To an untrained eye, all Tor are drab and miserable.
The Tor are humans, mostly with pale skin as the constant rain does not let enough sun in to tan them. Most also have a fashion of drab clothing and mostly wear hats. The Tor are exceptionally hard working, this is mostly out of fear of their god, Moby. They also appear to be shorter than their cousins, the Mitre because they very rarely stand up straight or look each other in the eye.
The Tor have a great ship building industry, one which spans many generations. The Tor ships tend to be tough, quick and precisely made. Although they make ships, nearly all Tor are afraid of leaving the town of Alantro so the ships are sold to anyone who can pay for them. Tor ships are seen all around Aardan. The Tor rarely sell ships to the Mitre as the Tor do not trust the Mitre. Tor can sometimes be found in other areas of Aardan, but if they are, then it is likely that they are servants or shipwrights.
The Mitre
Within the very jolly city of Kalato, the Mitre live a happy existence and are seen as a very trusting and happy group of people. The Mitre make most of their money from trading with other cultures and keep a very tidy port so that visitors are made to feel welcome. The Mitre have a balanced life style of word hard and play harder, producing a staggering amount of art and crafts goods (which they trade elsewhere). They are known to produce wonderful works of glassware and build incredible buildings. Some of their craftsmen can be spotted in and amongst other cultures, commissioned to build their highly stylised buildings in other cities.
The Mitre are also humans, with a slightly tanned complexion. Most wear the fashion of green and blue, with gold and silver trimming. The Mitre work and play hard, but do so for the love their god, Moby. The Mitre have many traditions in dance, theatre and art of which they spend a fair amount of time creating. A Mitre can be recognised by talking in a loud and rambumtious voice, laughing and humming to themselves.
Moby
Moby is a miscreant god who has two distinct sides. One one side, the Tor give Moby fearsome powers of wrath and destruction. On the other, Moby is distinctly happy and forgiving. Check out more on the religeons page.