Dena Nehele, Terreille

Dena Nehele is known for being a beautifully green territory, rich in agriculture and beautiful landscapes. It has a fairly mild climate that does not really have many extremes when it comes to the territory's range of temperatures. The weather changes in relation to the seasons, but it never really reaches the extreme cold or warmth that the other territories deal with. The territory does experience all four seasons though, turning a bit cooler for fall and colder for winter. It just doesn't reach the extreme heat or coldness that some of the other areas do. Precipitation falls throughout the year, though it is a bit light overall. This tends to leave the territory rather green for most of the year and the soil is quite fertile because of it. The mountainous areas to the west will occasionally have to worry about dangerous winds, high rainfall, snow, and hail in the late autumn and winter months.

Dena Nehele has always been known as an agricultural hub and this is because they are one of the main sources of food for the entire Realm. Agriculture almost seems easy in the fertile soil and its inhabitants are fortunate enough to receive the plentiful bounties that seem to grow from their land. Throughout the land, there are a bunch of prosperous farms that are capable of growing and providing enough food for the territory, as well as having a surplus that can then be sold to the rest of the Realm. The forests that cover part of Dena Nehele contain a variety of trees, plants, fruits, and flowers that are often used in the rituals and ceremonies of the Blood, which allows them to have enough for their uses but also a surplus to sell to the other territories.

Considering the fact that most of Dena Nehele is an agricultural society, the people of this territory tend to be hard-working and well meaning individuals. They believe in doing an honest day's work and are the kind of people that will lend a hand to their neighbors when it is needed. They are quick to offer hospitality to strangers as well since they would like to think that it would be offered to them if they needed it. However, they do not tolerate when people take advantage of their kindness or try to steal from them. If you are caught stealing, the punishment can be harsh since everyone works so hard to pull their weight. The punishment is up to the Territory, Province, or District Queen and will usually be an appropriate punishment.

As a people, they tend to pay a great deal of attention to the changing of the seasons. Agriculture is the main source of income for the territory and because of that, they put a lot of faith into the rituals that go along with the harvest. There are certain times when things are supposed to be planted as well as when they need to be harvested. The rituals that go along with those times will be done when the moon is waxing and they are closely tied to the four times of the year: Winsol, Ostara, Litha, and Mabon. Winsol is the longest night of the year and is often a time that provides the connection to the darkness that is needed in order to cleanse yourself for the start of a new year. Ostara is the time of year that welcomes spring and the beginning of the growing season. Litha is the longest day of the year and is often a time to celebrate both work and leisure. Lammas is the time of year when the harvest occurs. A Queen will often repair and heal the land once the harvesting has been complete so that the land may be fertile for the following season.

In general, Dena Nehele has always been a peaceful territory. They try to stay out of the fighting when wars between the other territories begin. They don't want to get involved in the fighting most of the time and would much rather remain a neutral territory. However, if a time comes when they need to fight in order to protect themselves from outside invaders, they will not hesitate to do what is necessary. They proved themselves as worthy adversaries as well before peace fell across Terreille since they had managed to hold their borders against Shalador for many years.

Another very important thing to note about the culture in this territory, is the fact that Dena Nehele no longer allows slavery within its borders. Nikole D'Aubergine has made the owning of another individual illegal since she has been Queen. This includes slaves that work at the manors, shops, or anywhere else, as well as pleasure slaves.

Dena Nehele is an old territory and no one really remembers how or when it began. Even from the beginning though, the people that dwelled in this area of the Realm seemed to prefer the peaceful way of life and tried to stay out of any battles that were being fought by the territories that surrounded them. They became known as a neutral territory, one that was safe to escape to if the need arose and the people would welcome these refugees with open arms as long as the fighting did not follow them.

As the years passed, Dena Nehele slowly grew to be one of the main sources of agricultural goods for the Realm of Terreille. The fertile soil of the land allowed for the people to grow almost anything from food to rare plants that can be used for the rituals of the Blood. There are also certain vegetables that seem to grow better in this region of the Realm than in others, like the potato. The surplus of goods from the territory were sold to the surrounding territories, which helped the people of Dena Nehele prosper. However, this was one of the main reasons that they were eventually pulled into the wars that they had managed to stay out of for so long.

Dena Nehele was bordered by Shalador to the west and tension between the two territories had been rising for years. Things began to get especially bad when Shalador began encroaching into Dena Nehele and attempting to claim the land for their own. The Queen at the time, Ellsabeth Balfor, had no choice but to fight back at this point. She declared war with Shalador and the people of Dena Nehele quickly rose to the challenge.

Though they were not warriors by any means, they managed to hold their borders for the many centuries between the start of the fighting and the time peace was finally established. During this time however, the land suffered greatly. The people had tried to remain true to the rituals and keeping the soil fertile, but as more people were called into the fighting, the farms were neglected and the rituals were being missed. It had gotten to the point where the land was completely devastated by famine and drought when peace was finally called between all of the territories.

Shortly after the peace began, Phaedre D'Aubergine came into power. She was a Purple Dusk Jeweled Healer Queen and devoted herself to bringing Dena Nehele back to what it once was. She worked with the other Queens to heal the land and helped people remember the Old Ways. The rituals were done on a regular basis again and as the years passed, things seemed to be getting better. The soil was becoming fertile once again and the famine disappeared. The territory had become prosperous once again because of the Queens and the people that had worked so hard to restore the land.

From the beginning of time, the position of Territory Queen was often given to the Queen who wore the darkest jewel and had the desire to rule. This was how someone like the Red Jeweled Queen, Sophia Kyran, and managed to come into power. She was not like the Queens of the past at all and cared more about herself and her own prosperity than she did of her people. She would do almost anything to retain her position as well, including forming an alliance with a Warlord Prince by the name of Adolpho Baedelle who had taken over Pruul. They formed a trade agreement that worked out to both of their benefits and even occasionally helped each other with the problems of breaking Queens.

Though Dena Nehele remained prosperous, the money was not spent on making things better for everyone involved like the past Queens had done. While she was in power, Sophia raised the tithes of the territory so that she could line her own pockets and did not care that the lower classes were beginning to suffer because of it. No one was strong enough to challenge her either since she had her people break any witch that was born with a dark enough Jewel. If she did not believe her people could get away with doing that task discreetly, she would borrow someone from Pruul to complete the task. She would of course lend her people to Adolpho to do the same if he required it.

About a year ago though, her alliance with the Warlord Prince of Pruul came to an end abruptly when the daughter that no one knew he had returned and defeated the man. This meant that when Sophia finally decided to go after the young Red Jeweled Black Widow Healer Queen, Nikole D'Aubergine, she had to use her own people to do it as opposed to borrowing someone from Adolpho. Nikole was a descendant of the Purple Dusk Healer Queen that had originally helped bring the territory back to prosperity after the peace begun and Sophia feared her power simply because she had such a dark birthright. She sent someone to the young woman before she had undergone her Virgin Night, but her plan failed. The man had managed to get Nikole alone and rape her, however he was not able to break her like he was supposed to. He was simply not strong enough to descend as far into the abyss as she had run to get away from him.

Once Nikole recovered from the event, she let her fury take over. She received her Offering in secret, with only her best friend knowing about it. She received a Black Jewel, but used her limited Black Widow knowledge to maintain the aura of a Red Jeweled Queen until she was ready to face Sophia. When she challenged the woman for the throne, she unleashed the energy of her Black Jewel and broke Sophia back to her Birthright and shattered the woman's mind like she had tried to do to her. Nikole chose to leave her alive though to wander the Twisted Kingdom, knowing that it might come back haunt her in the future.

Nikole has recently taken over rule of Dena Nehele and she is currently trying to get her court in order. Though most people are glad to see Sophia gone, there are those that do not approve of the fact that such a young Queen sits on the throne. Nikole is now trying to undo some of the damage that Sophia had done as Queen all the while dealing with people who do not believe that she is actually capable of doing the job.