History Characters / PillarsOfEternityNations

* DoingItForTheArt: In-universe. The ducs (and anyone else of substance) are great patrons of art, music, and theatre, a holdover from Old Vaila.

* FantasyCultureCounterpart: For the little is known about the region, it seems to be based on Oceania (specially Australia) and South America deu to being known as a continent full of exotic (and dangerous) creatures, a high diversity of biomes and a hotpot of races and settlements, both colonies and natives.

* AppealToWealth: Vailians are happy to pay good coin for anything they might want, and are firm believers in the idea that everyone must have their price.

* FantasyConflictCounterpart: The Saint's War, which Readceras started, resembles a cross between UsefulNotes/TheCrusades, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War -- a war of religious conversion in which a northern colony invaded a newly independent southern nation, with the two cultures and peoples, previously NotSoDifferent, now bitterly divided.

* AltarDiplomacy: In Aedyr, it's possible for a human and elf to enter a ceremonial marriage called a ''haemneg'', which symbolizes the old human and elven kingdoms uniting to form the empire in the first place. Officially, it is a good way for wealthier families to pool resources, consolidate power, for larger houses to gain a new steward, and lower houses to gain more power. Unofficially, since humans and elves can't breed. it's a good way for nobles to gain a socially accepted mistress without fear of illegitimate children.

* SterilityPlague: Waidwen's Legacy, also known as the Hollowborn Crisis, which has caused countless Dyrwoodan children to be born Hollowborn, without souls -- catatonic, essentially, unable to anything more than breathe.

Like the Dyrwood, Readceras is a former colony of the Aedyran Empire. It gained its independence with the rise of St. Waidwen, who with the power vested in him by Eothas as his avatar, declared the colony to be the Divine Kingdom of Readceras. The Aedyran Empire, recognizing that their ability to stop the avatar of a god would be rather limited, decided to quickly cut their losses and give in to his demands. After Waidwen's death, the nation is, as its current name implies, now under control of a theocratic regency.

** As a cataclysmic conflict between two closely related cultures instigated by a man claiming to be an incarnation of the divine, there's also shades of [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing the Taiping Rebellion from 19th Century China.]]

* TheTheocracy: Eothas is technically the official leader of the nation, but with his avatar, Waidwen, gone, Readceras is effectively controlled by the "Morning Council", the five leading priests of the local Church of Eothas. This religious leadership has lead the nation to be notably more socially conservative in its outlook than the Dyrwood -- which is saying something.

* PunchClockVillain: They tend not be actively malevolent, but are indifferent to the long-term harm they cause as long as they see an immediate profit themselves.

* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: One of the commodities they trade in is slaves, although it's not clear to what degree they make use of slaves in the Republics themselves. They do also have a certain reputation for [[PressGanged press-ganging]] foreigners onto their ships, however.

* SimpleYetOpulent: Aedyran style is typically involves fine quality clothes and occasional jewelry that is not too complicated nor ostentatious.

* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: Once a powerful empire. Now, both the Vailian Republics, and Príncipi from Old Vailia itself, doubt the fractured city-states of the once great empire will ever amount to anything again.

* {{Eagleland}}: Of US military policy post-911 -- the military adventurism, the preemptive strikes, the MyCountryRightOrWrong attitude of both troops and civilians. It's worth nothing, however, that other than Kana, the military are pretty much the only side of Rauatai we've seen in the games thus far.

* FantasticCasteSystem: The Huana are divided into castes and believe they will reincarnate into a higher caste upon death. It's the responsibility of the higher castes to look take care of the lower castes, and food and resources are shared with the highest caste picking what they want and giving what they do not want to the lower castes who "survive on the scraps". The system works fine when dealing with small island villages where the population is low and everyone knows everyone else personally and no one falls through the cracks. It falls apart in a large Huana metropolis like Neketaka where the Roparu population is too huge to be easily provided for, and the higher castes more prone to keep more for themselves. This is not helped by the fact that the higher castes see charity towards the Roparu as a personal insult, as it carries the implication that the higher castes are failing in their duties and thus outsiders need to step in. The castes are, in order of elevation:

* VerbalTic: "What say?", "I say" , and "Ekera" among the Huana, similar to the Hawaiian habit of ending sentences with "ya?" as a form of emphasis.

* NobleFugitive: The original Príncipi were Old Vailian aristocrats, with only a fleet of ships of ships between them and old enemies in pursuit.

* {{Pirates}}: Very much pirate classic, with sailing ships, cutlasses, pistol braces, parrots, and eyepatches. Like real world pirates, [[TruthInTelevision they're also an unlikely bastion of (relative) liberty and equality]].

* DrivenToSuicide: In the end, the last of them died this way. All but Thaos, and a few ancient scattered undead. As a whole as an entire civilization, they [[CessationOfExistence sacrificed all of their souls]] (save Thaos) so that they could create the gods of the world to artificially create hope and purpose for an existence, in their opinion, otherwise had none of either.

** As a cataclysmic conflict between two closely related cultures instigated by a man claiming to be an incarnation of the divine, there's also shades of [[DynastiesFromShangToQing the Taiping Rebellion from 19th Century China.]]

* BerserkButton: Outsiders trespass in Engwithan ruins on penalty of death. Even passing near the ruins without realizing it (easy in the dense wilderness of the continent) is reason enough for some tribes.

* DeepSouth: In ''Deadfire'', most Dawnstars have southern accents, and the Eastern Reach's version of [[CrystalDragonJesus Eothas worship]] looks a lot like Christian revivalism. The trope is turned on its head a bit, in that geographically Readceras lies to the north of the Dyrwood.

* VestigalEmpire: Somewhat Downplayed. Old Vailia might not be as strong as in its glory days, but their navy still has a fearsome reputation and remains a force to be reckoned with.

* AncientOrderOfProtectors: The Wahaki are highly xenophobic and violently protective of their islands, particularly the ancient ruins of the lost Huana civilization. [[spoiler:A visit from the immortal Thaos himself, as part of his campaign to recruit them to protect the old ruins much as he did the Glanfathans, convinced the ancient Wahaki that outsiders were not to be trusted, and they burned him at the stake. This in turn proved to the Leaden Key that they would be excellent guardians regardless.]]

* {{Pirates}}: Very much pirate classic, with sailing ships, cutlasses, pistol braces, parrots, and eyepatches. Like real world pirates, [[TruthInTelevision they're also an unlikely bastion of (relative) liberty and equality.]]

[[folder:Engwith (''Pillars of Eternity'' '''SPOILERS''']]

* AbusivePrecursors: So much so that the gods eventually wiped them out. [[spoiler:Except the gods were the Engwithans' own creation, designed to keep kith in a state of MedievalStasis with their souls constantly churning through the Great Wheel, overseen by the gods the Engwithans had crafted to ensure that cycle was never broken.]]

[[folder:Engwith]]

An ancient civilization which vanished from Eora under mysterious circumstances several thousand years ago, the ruins of which dot the Dyrwood and the rest of the Eastern Reach. Engwith possessed technology far in advance of any modern nation. '''Major spoilers for ''Pillars of Eternity'' follow.'''

* AndManGrewProud: Their civilization was wiped out by the gods thousands of years ago when they unlocked forbidden secrets the gods would keep hidden. [[spoiler:Except this is almost entirely backward: the Engwithans were the ones who decided that kith could not be trusted with the secrets of the soul, including themselves, so they sacrificed themselves to the last man, woman, and child so that their souls could power the great machines which were the true minds of the gods, then instructed those same gods to bombard their cities with storms, meteors, and tidal waves to ensure their technology was lost forever.]]
* ClarkesThirdLaw: Most of their ancient technology runs off of animancy so powerful that it completely mystifies modern animancers. [[spoiler:They were able to create the gods themselves through animancy, although the toll that it took was heavy indeed.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: In the end, the last of them died this way. [[spoiler:All but Thaos, and a few ancient scattered undead. As a whole as an entire civilization, they [[CessationOfExistence sacrificed all of their souls]] (save Thaos) so that they could create the gods of the world to artificially create hope and purpose for an existence, in their opinion, otherwise had none of either.]]
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: When they achieved a level of technology that let them unravel the great mysteries of the universe, [[spoiler:they were crestfallen to discover that there were no gods, no higher purpose to existence, at least as far as their instruments could detect. This so thoroughly broke them as a people that they willingly sacrificed themselves to embody a pantheon of artificial gods, to replace what they saw as the meaninglessness of existence with purpose and order.]]
* TheMasquerade: Much effort has been expended in destroying or otherwise concealing certain truths they had discovered. [[spoiler:By the Engwithans themselves, no less, and all to prop up one very big lie in particular: [[DeityOfHumanOrigin the gods are not real.]] Thaos, the last of their kind, has been maintaining this lie for thousands of years, since he believes that the truth would break society as a whole.]]
* MedievalStasis: Their legacy to Eora has ultimately resulted in this. [[spoiler:Thaos and the Leaden Key have been enforcing it in accordance with the philosophy of his people, since any civilization which understood animancy to the same degree as the ancient Engwithans would inevitably stumble onto the true nature of the gods sooner or later.]] There is some question how ''universal'' it is -- [[spoiler: there are implications that modern Eora might be more technologically advanced than the Engwithans in areas ''not'' having to do with animancy and souls, like metalworking and engineering. It's just that Eora is a setting where soul science has very, ''very'' broad applications.]]

* CultureChpSuey: Mix the best and worst of renaissance Italy, gilded-age (and to an extent modern) America and the African "slaver kingdoms".