Erigo

Overview

According to the hakima, the Brass Coast was founded by three sisters named Erigo, Riqueza and Guerra. They departed Highguard with their extended families, and sought a new homeland far from the internecine squabbling of the Highborn. With the aid of powerful magic, they located a homeland where they could be free of interference from the Highborn, one where they could pursue their own destinies. All Freeborn today see themselves as descendants of one of the three founders - whether literally (via matrilineal lineage), or spiritually (for those who choose to join the nation rather than being born into it).

The three women were known to be powerful magicians, and depending on who one asks either formed of a single coven or, more likely, lead three individual covens that worked together most likely through the use of items such as the Web of Celestial Attunement. Yet it would be wrong to think of them solely as magicians; they were also proud and ambitious leaders, and are considered to be the first dhomiro as well as being the model on which the hakima base themselves.

Outside of the Brass Coast, historians are divided as to whether the three women were actually related by blood or not; Highborn archivists claim that the records suggest that the three were actually unrelated, being instead scions of minor patrician families. Unhappy with the growing turmoil within the nation, and predicting the impending civil war, the three formed an alliance, sold their holdings, and simply left Highguard. According to some tales, they each took a new name when they left the Highborn nation, symbolically burning any connection to their past in a great bonfire somewhere in Casinea. Romantics imagine that they set off from what would later become Anvil, but there is little factual support for this notion.

Riqueza

Legends recorded by the Hakima claim that Riqueza was the eldest of the three sisters. She is said to have been a mystically-inclined seer, as well as a practitioner of the apothecary's arts. The Incarnadine Satchel is one of several miraculous relics of Riqueza, although the powerful artefact was lost to the Empire nearly a hundred years ago.

As recounted in the song Riqueza's Dream, it is said that she was the motive force behind the decision to quit Highguard. She is often described as having been a mistress of night magic, and a common tale of the founding claims that she used a crystal with a flaw in the shape of the rune of transformation to lead the Freeborn to their new homeland. A number of her children were said to have inherited her fascination with transformation.

The Riqueza perform ritual magic using loud, rhythmic, energetic drumming.

Erigo

According to the tales of the hakima, Erigo was neither the eldest nor the youngest of the three sisters. According to the old stories, she was the most martially minded of the three sisters. A significant proportion of her family were warriors and battle magicians, and when the Freeborn decided to settle on the Brass Coast she and her tribe took the lead in driving out the orcs who inhabited their new homeland. She is said to have been adept at weaving enchantment over armies and fleets alike. Several of the families descended from her line see it as their duty to protect the rest of the Freeborn, and a number of the oldest corsair families trace their lineage back to Erigo.

The exemplar Zemress was born into the Erigo tribe.

The Erigo tribe use a less energetic style, often accompanying their rituals with soothing, harmonious music.

Guerra

The hakima teach that Guerra was the youngest of the three sisters. She was known both for her quick temper and for the courage with which she spoke her mind. She was the most politically minded of the three founders, and is said to have negotiated treaties of recognition with the scattered [[Navarr] stridings, giving them the freedom to walk the trods on the Brass Coast in return for helping the early Freeborn nation maintain lines of communication between scattered settlements. According to Highborn accounts, her family were heavily involved in mercantile endeavors before she lead them out of Highguard.

Guerra was an acknowledged master of day magic. Some hakima claim that it was Guerra, not Riqueza, who lead the Freeborn to the Brass Coast, using a dowsing pendulum marked with the rune of discovery.

She is said to have founded the city of Siroc, reasoning that while the Freeborn may wish to wander, outsiders would want a single place they could come to when they wished to deal with them. There are a number of humorous stories about Guerra and the powerful merchant-Price of Sarvos, in which he and his family repeatedly tried to woo her into political (and romantic) entanglements that she cleverly turns to her own advantage - all without speaking a single word of falsehood.

Emperor Ahraz was a scion of the Guerra line.

The Guerra prefer physical movement combined with fire and light when they perform their magic.

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