Lore:House Va'ruun

House Va'ruun
Founding - 2190
Location	Va'ruun'kai
Religions	The Great Serpent
Government	Theocratic Monarchy
Leaders
• Jinan Va'ruun † • Jarek Va'ruun (Fate Uknown) • Anasko Va'ruun

House Va'ruun is an isolationist theocracy that worships a celestial being known as the Great Serpent. House Va'ruun was founded in 2190 after Jinan Va'ruun claimed to have communed with a celestial entity known as the Great Serpent. He then founded House Va'ruun and led the new theocracy to an isolated world far from the Settled Systems. In 2230, House Va'ruun emerged from their isolation and later declared a bloody war on the rest of humanity, known as the Serpent's Crusade. The war lasted for 23 years and resulted in many deaths. After Jinan's death, his son Jarek Va'ruun succeeded him and sued for peace. In 2311, House Va'ruun retreated from the settled systems, cutting off all communication. Some Zealots remained, however, and continued to attack in the Great Serpent’s name.

History

Founding

In 2190, a colony ship that departed from New Atlantis disappeared. During one of the ship's many Grav Jumps, one of the passengers, Jinan Va’ruun, claimed to have spent the time during Grav Jumps, communing with a celestial entity referred to as the Great Serpent, what was only a few seconds for everyone else felt much longer for him. As a result of this revelation he brought back a mandate, one that stated that they should follow him or be devoured when the Great Serpent encircles the universe. This compelled Jinan to found House Va’ruun which then proceeded to isolate itself from the settled systems, making its existence unknown.

First Contact

In 2230 House Va’ruun chose to reveal themselves. The first vessel to make contact with the settled systems and break their seclusion was their flagship, The Mourning. House Va’ruun made initial gestures of peace towards the rest of the Settled Systems during this endeavor, claiming that their only intention was to spread the word of the Great Serpent; this, however, did not hold.

The Serpent’s Crusade

In 2240 House Va’ruun declared an all-out war on the rest of Human civilization which was known as the ‘’Serpent’s Crusade’’. The war lasted for twenty-three years and resulted in thousands of Freestar, UC, and independent settlers deaths, being killed by agents of House Va’ruun in the name of their Serpent god. As a part of House Va’ruun crusade they also destroyed a number of significant installations such as the Den during their assault. It was only when Jinan Va’ruun died, and his son Jarek Va’ruun succeeded him, that House Va’ruun made attempts to pursue peace. Jarek called for a cessation of conflict thus bringing about an end to the Serpents Crusade for the majority of House Va’ruun. Zealots, however, continued to fight against the Settled Systems, choosing to ignore Jarek's leadership and orders for peace.

Aftermath of the Crusade

Jarek, believing that diplomacy was the only way to assure the survival of House Va’ruun after the Crusade ended, would go as far as ordering the creation of a embassy based in New Atlantis as a means of showing House Va'ruun's intentions of making amends for their actions in the bloody conflict.

The results of the Serpent's Crusade had left most within the Settled Systems fearful and untrusting towards the people of House Va’ruun. It did not help that some rogue agents, Zealots, refused to recognize the cessation of hostility and continued attacking anyone that they came across unofficially continuing the Serpent's Crusade. After Jinan Va'ruun’s and the conclusion of the Serpent’s Crusade, Jinan’s body was buried within the Scaled Citadel, the seat of House Va’ruun’s leadership, based within the hidden city of Dazra, on the secret world of Va'ruun'kai.

The Retreat

In 2311, shortly after the ratification of the Armistice, House Va’ruun retreated from the settled systems for an unknown reason. Additionally all communication was cut between House Va’ruun and its embassy in the Settled Systems. Only their Ambassador, Qasrik Bal'mor, elected to stay behind, choosing to disregard the retreat order as he saw his role in securing peace to be the will of the Great Serpent. Not all of House Va’ruun left the Settled Systems, however, as those who refused the cessation continued to attack any who were not of House Va’ruun as well as any that they felt betrayed them when the Serpent's Crusade was ended. These zealots still continued to fight as though the Crusade was still happening and as such refused any instruction sent from Dazra.

By 2330 House Va’ruun had broken the communication silence and contacted the New Atlantis embassy asking for an update on the state of things in New Atlantis. Ambassador Bal'mor was unsure what the nature of the request entailed but was overjoyed that contact had begun to be restored.

Culture

Everyone in House Va'ruun is raised with the teachings of Jinan Va'ruun.

In Va’ruun culture, every child is entrusted with a pet groat. Va'ruun children are entrusted to raise, care for, and milk the creature as they, and the groat mature. When the time comes that the child comes of age they are then tasked with slaughtering the groat followed by then recovering and fashioning its skull into a dagger. This is done to show their connection to the Great Serpent, that all things serve the Serpent, and that they can be tools for his use, in more ways than just one. Every member of House Va’ruun has a groat skull dagger and is instructed to keep it at their side at all times, for whilst the Great Serpent is always with them, so too are the dangers of those who defy and oppose Him.

Should a member of House Va'ruun be sent to the settled systems they are instructed to hide the blade, for choosing to continue carrying the blade may incur unwanted attention and thus become a liability.

Government and Politics

House Va'ruun is an isolationist theocracy that worships a celestial being known as the Great Serpent, which was founded by Jinan Va'ruun shortly after he left New Atlantis on a colony ship. Since its founding, House Va'ruun has been ruled by Jinan's descendants. House Va'ruun’s leadership resides within the Scaled Citadel on Dazra which is also where Jinan's remains were laid to rest.

Agents of House Va'ruun who are sent into the Settled Systems are assigned to a handler who themselves report back to a body known as the High Council.

House Va'ruun has undergone three notable phases within known history. Under Jinan Va'ruun’s leadership, House Va'ruun took an aggressive approach to the Settled Systems initiating the Serpent’s Crusade which saw thousands of casualties across the Settled Systems all in the name of their god, The Great Serpent. This approach led to the Settled Systems developing a deep mistrust in all things Va'ruun which has not been helped by the rogue agents, Zealots, continuing to fight against the Settled Systems. The Second phase happened shortly after Jinan’s death which led to his Son, Jarek Va'ruun, succeeding him, Jarek chose to lead House Va'ruun down a more peaceful path choosing to engage in diplomacy, erecting an embassy in the heart of the United Colonies and supporting with the Armistice between UC and Freestar Collective. Jarek’s opinion was that House Va'ruun needed to become diplomatic and peaceful in order to have a continued existence which was in direct opposition to his Father’s, Jinan’s, view. The third phase took place sometime around the signing of the Armistice and is the most secretive. House Va'ruun returned to isolation similar to how House Va'ruun started initially. Agents of House Va'ruun were still discreetly inserted into the Settled Systems in an espionage role, however. These agents would report their findings back to their handler and subsequently House Va'ruun as this was the only way to contact House Va’ruun due to the secretive nature of the faction.

House Va'ruun keeps its homeworld a very closely guarded secret going as far as to even keep the location from its own agents. A small number of trusted pilots know the route to and from Va'ruun'kai and are responsible for transporting Va'ruun personnel across the Settled Systems.

Gallery

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  House Va'ruun logo

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  damaged variant of the House Va'ruun logo

Trivia

• Datamined files from the game indicate Va'ruun'kai is the planet Serpentis IV in the Serpentis system. In the current version of the game, Serpentis IV does not bear any trace of the city of Dazra, or any other indication that it is the Va'ruun homeworld.
  • An unused, but blank, map marker for Dazra also exists in the game's files. The filename indicates the location as one of the major cities in the game.
• Datamined files from the game indicate that the current leader of House Va'ruun is Anasko Va'ruun
  • It is possible that the change that happened shortly after the ratification of the armistice is a change of rulership from Jarek to Anasko
• It is possible that the slaughter of their pet groat children of House Va'ruun do when coming of age is the Rite of Kre'jar