Jordan Spaciel
Soc. Extra Credit
“Promontorium”
My society was formed as a way to escape from the modern world and start new. The
societies name is “mountain crest” in Latin. This name is suitable to the society because to
escape from the world we know, a small group of 300 people traveled north into the uncharted
wilderness above Canada. The group traveled several
years searching for a suitable spot that would utilize
the group’s interests and skills in music, magic,
hunting, and love of snow and ice. They found a
suitable spot in the far north region above Canada and
near the north pole in and area called the Artic Basin,
inside of the Artic Circle. This area is scattered with
polar mountains, which became the beginnings of the
buildings for this society. This society was started by
a small group that were the followers of a ancient
religion group called the Templars. These 300
followers studied in the art of
magic, music, combat (mainly
spears and swords), apothocary, and meditation. This group followed the
same religious beliefs that the ancient Templars followed and were sworn
in as their own Templar group. The group eventually branched out to
start a new section of Templar which they called “Revas” Templars
which means “Freedom Templars” in their new language (which is to a
similar dialect to elven folk lore). The Revas elven Templars split from
the original group of Templars in the early 2020s because the grand
council decided the elven sector was becoming too populated and started
enslaving the lower ranked elven members. These individuals sought
freedom from the grand council, and in turn formed their own sector to be free from the higher
castes of the Templars. Hence the name Revas which came from their native elven language to
mean ‘freedom’.
Once up in the polar regions, the Revas started
tunneling into large moutains using combinations of
magic and mining techniques. Thus through this massive
network of tunnels through out the mountains,
Promontorium was built. The passageways of the main
hall were said to be mostly 20ft in height, allowing for
ample space. Off of the main passage, houses were built.
Many of the houses were on the edge of the mountains allowing them to be partially in the
mountain as well as outside. This allowed the houses to be rock interior as well as hard wood
outside. If one were to look at the mountains that the Revas inhabited, they would see awnings of
wood buildings sticking out of the mountains and bright colored p lants on the porches of the
houses. Many of the people grew herbs on their own to practice their apothocary and
enchantments. This helped in the aid of any sickness problems in Promontorium. Everyone was
trained in apothocary, but there were also “hahren” or elders who were enlisted to deal with
serious health problems. Hahren were masters in the certain areas of study. To become a hahren,
one would study for over twenty years and also go through a rigorous set of tests that is
designated by the current master.
All the power relations are based on the same hierarchy of the Templars. There is a
master, a seneschal, and then a board of advisors for other areas of the group such as combat,
agriculture, music, and magic. The master is somewhat of a
dictator, but Rule, the designated laws set in order during the Revas’
time in the main Templar order, states that the people can over-rule
many things. This makes Promontorium close to democracy. A
Master rules until his or her death, and then after the death a new
person must run to be elected as the master. The current master
decides the seneschal, and a seneschal is in charge of serving if the
Master is unable to, running the mint, and training the army. To
make new members, the society mainly reproduces through their
population and raises their children in it. On rare occurrences, the
group will adopt outsiders if they can perform a set of tests. The tests include performing
difficult pilgrimages to ancient holy sites that were once part of the modern day, such as
Jerusalem. These tests are based off the Christian religion that the Revas follow.
Social unity is huge to the Revas in Promontorium. What mainly leads to the closeness, is
how much each set of families must depend on each other. The whole society is a brotherhood
and sisterhood that have all sworn oaths to uphold their society to survive the new modern world.
The seculsion in the mountains was a strategy to keep many away. The group is a very select
group and not many people leave. This act of growing up in the society and living it creates a
huge family bond amongst the whole society. 300 is a small enough number that keeps the elders
in check with the lower in ranks. There are rarely any problems with in the systems of
goverenment because it is so close to a true democracy, with allowing the Master to make life
threatening choices to either save or advance the group. The Revas do not face many problems
with population because of the glory the group views in death. No one fears death and the elders
generally live into their 70’s and then pass away to protect their family in spirit. The Revas
perform rituals to help the spirits stay with the families and this is why the wind howls so much
in the mountains where they live, it is the spirits living on a second life. The ideal family is small
and with more pets than children. Most families only have two children, a boy and a girl, and
also the dog is a very common companion. The population doesn’t grow too fast, but if it ever
did spike, the landscape is forgiving with the amount of space available.
The Revas are incredibly skilled in combat and this helps with defending. The combat
ranks serve as another way to show the power relations in the Revas society. If ever there was a
threat up in their mountains, which is rare due to the seclusion, the Revas are all trained in some
sort of combat. The five main groups that all the people are divided into are the healers, battle
mages, rangers, rogues, and mages. In the healers group the main goal is to heal any injuries and
keep all those fighting safe. The battle mages use their magic in enchanted armors and weapons
to fight in close quarters and with much brute force using swords and battle axes. The rangers are
skilled archers that also use magic to enchant their bows. Rogues are of very high status due to
their social skills. If there is ever a battle of witts the rogue will win. Rogues carry very little in
attack, but their offense is that of poisens and persuasion. Finally there are the mages. Very
powerful and intellegent the mages use incantaions and strong meditation to caste spells. The
most feared is that of the blizzard, due to the abundance of snow it can cause utter confusion
among the enemies. While the Revas rarely are attacked by outsiders, they do have to deal with
what the wilderness throws at them. In the northpole there is unspeakable magic and with that
many other magical creatures such as dragons, ogres, giants, and mammoth spiders.
Top Left: Healer
Top Middle: Battle Mage
Top Right: Ranger
Bottom Left: Rogue
Bottom Right: Mage
The elders help assign jobs in the Revas society. From birth, one is trained in all the areas
that are offered. Some include agriculture, blacksmith, carpentry, hunting, enchantment,
apothocary, scribe, and meditation. There is a more extensive and detailed list. The elders will
designate which is the childs strongest attribute and that will be their main task, but the child will
also choose what their second skill is at age 18. When they reach their 18th birthday there is a
ceremony that designates and blesses the child with the task of their life. This helps in socializing
by having everyone have a designated and choosen trait they want to focus on. All of these
traditions link back to the medevil times and also back to more tribal behaviors. This helps give
the sense of a clan or a brother/sisterhood.
The mountains that hold the Revas are abundant in hard
ice that when treated with magic becomes a stronger element
than steel or iron. The Revas use this to build tools, weapons,
and houses. Deep in the
mountains there are vast
springs and through time
and magic, the herbologist
of Promontorium have created underground forests and
fields that supply food. The main foods are rice, venison,
and green beans. These grow in mass quantities in the
underground caverns. The argriculture that does not use
magic is that of artic wheat, which has been cultivated from winter wheat. Also fishing is a huge
industry and food staple. Fisherman ice fish the frozen lakes and rivers around the mountains to
obtain large fish that feed many people. They also fish there plentiful underground lakes.
Currency in Promontorium spurs from the magically formed ice that is made into coins. It
is similar to silver and can’t be counterfitted. The Revas use a combination of coins and labor for
transaction. Most of the time parties will trade their labor and products instead of the coins. This
helps stimulate the economy of this small
nation. Along with currency, the Revas
have a banner similar to a flag, and
important objects in their society. Many of
the banners contained the seal of the
Templar but in a light blue ice color. This
pattern is found etched into much of the
ice corridors. The wispy parts of the
background symbolize the wind and ice
that surrounds the lives of the Revas. They
believe that God sends his messages
through the snow and wind, making blizzards an important event in the culture. Also the beast
that live in the north pole, especially the polar bear are thought to be a spirit in Christianity
because often the polar bears appear before good luck, like the opposite of a black cat. The color
white also shows the pureness and holy land that God has given the Revas.
The Revas have most of the knowledge from the modern day plus all of the ancient
knowledge. All is written in text and kept in the massive library in the center of the main city.
The job of some people is to be cartakers for the library and some just study the past to prevent
future problems. Many of the books are religious related. The main Bible and all scriptures are
printed many times. Also there are many
books relating to the Templars and all of their
treasures. The library grows when the Revas
go out in search of new knowledge. This
difficult task is a job that is assigned to several
of the brightest teenagers that study the arts of
the mages. The children are taught from the
books contained in the library along with their
other life studies. The library is the centeral
hub for all knowledge of the Revas. Overall the Revas are peaceful people that originated from
the ancient Templar. They used their skills in magic and religion to form their new home in the
artic named Promontorium.
Most of the inspiration for this society was from my interests in videogames and the
Templar. The pictures are mainly from the games “Dragon Age: Origins” and “Skyrim” and the
information about the Templar comes from books I have read. The next page shows some
pictures of how some of the Revas houses would look. These pictures are real pictures (most are
from amazing structur es called ice hotels)