Renan

Background

Hundreds of years before the game, with the Helganquil nearly extinct after the Hollowing of Rena, the Helganquil abducted Dahnans with an aptitude for astral artes and engineered them into a new race, the Renans, who were made to live on Lenegis and told that most of their kind lived on Rena. After the Spirit Channeling Ceremony failed, the Renans, at the behest of the Helganquil, invaded Dahna 300 years before the story, quickly subjugated the planet, reduced the Dahnans to a slave race and divided the land into five districts under the Five Renan Lords.

To harvest energy for another ceremony they were manipulated into the Crown Contest, embedding Dahnan slaves with spirit cores that generate astral energy under heavy labor; the winning Lord is awarded the title of Sovereign. Renan culture prizes power, magical and political, with rank following skill in astral artes, and is strictly hierarchical and dependent on leadership. Ambition is taught from birth, and Renans who lack it, like Dohalim il Qaras, are seen as failures by conservatives such as Kelzalik. Female Lords are very rare; Almeidrea Kaineris slaughtered the men of her household to become one.