Shevrandt

The Sevenfold Empire of Shevrandt was the first major known civilization to appear on the continent of Barram.

The Sun People
The first nation to leave record of its existence was the Sevenfold Empire of Shevrandt, also called "the Sun People."

Shevrandt was based largely in the Valley of the Sun, or Mun Ardat in the Shevrandi language. The Valley is located in northern Barram, at the foot of the Brightcloud Mountains. Shevrandt was a kingdom of literal giants, and though dwarfed by later civilizations (especially the Prasatan Empire) their influence on Arc Arjet cannot be discounted. The name "Sevenfold Empire" refers to the religious beliefs of the Shevrandi giants, who believed their empire extended not merely into the Material Plane, but into six other successive "holy" planes. The true meaning of these other planes has not been fully uncovered by historians.

The sorcerer-kings of Shevrandt were the first to create the formulae for permanent enchantments which could be incorporated into objects, and authored many spells known to arcanists to this day. Their language, Shevrandi, is used by scholars and arcanists in formal documents, and many ancient towns, legendary relics and members of the noble classes still bear names in this most ancient tongue. According to surviving stone tablets from that time, the Shevrandi masters of agriculture created three of the six species of orchid that make up the average meal on Barram, and their careful crossbreeding lead to the seed-bearing goldheart which also contributes greatly to the diet of many races.

While the Shevrandi giants invented the art of binding enchantments to permanent objects, it was to be their downfall. The giants kept and employed many other races as slaves according to their various skills, and in their arrogance owing to their tremendous size, strength and magical arts, they permitted their slaves to learn much of their secrets so they could avoid any labor themselves. Doing all the practical work, the slaves soon surpassed their masters in skill, and in secret they manufactured magic equipment and practiced magic. Indeed, the belts of giant strength were first manufactured to help close the gap in strength between giants and their smaller slaves. The giants were eventually overwhelmed and torn to pieces in a massive revolt. Those who survived scattered to the four corners of the world, and never again grasped greatness on the scale of their former glory. Their ruins are mostly dust now, save for those partly preserved by the lingering echoes of tremendous magic.

The Language of the Sun
Shevrandi is a largely-extinct tongue, chiefly used by scholars, historians and as an ecclesiastical language by the clergy of the Anuric pantheon. Very few are fluent in spoken Shevrandi, but it remains in formal place names and the names of the gods.

Shevrandi has a twenty-two character phonetic alphabet, with each letter having a "high" and "low" value, and numerals one through nine. Shevrandi also has a placeholder number, analogous to the use of zero.