The deep, intricate mysteries of magic are studied and mastered within the Everstar Faction. Beyond the affairs of mortals, the Everstar stands for one thing and one thing only: the advancement and perfection of magic. Everstar embraces the light and the dark alike, believing true power comes from emotion. They tend to avoid war and politics, until the tragic assassination of their beloved ruler, the Duchess. Now, a 3,000-year treaty hangs in the balance. Will magic change the course of Prismatia’s history? Only the great mages of Everstar will decide.
The Everstar are the true neutral faction of Prismatia; they don’t involve themselves in world affairs. They are represented by the colors silver and gold and their symbol is a crystalline star. They’re aesthetically very plush and luxurious, with Victorian, Germanic, and Renaissance styles as influences; it is a reflection of the overall arrogance and disconnection from reality that runs deep through the faction.
Everstar derives its name from the Duchy of Everstar, who represents the faction in the Conclave of Prismatia. The Duchy of Everstar derives its name from the House of Everstar -- The first, and current, ruling family of the Duchy. The founder, and first duke, was Seraphino Everstar. Witches dominate the Everstar nobility, and structure their society around the mastery of magic accordingly.
The Everstar are a highly self-sufficient society, living amongst the cold and inhospitable mountain ranges of the world. The majority of the Everstar are highly educated, and pride themselves on their education system; they have the best schools in the world, including Gestirn University, the only magic academy in existence. Unfortunately, this has created a society heavily reliant on the use of magic and has been socially stratified by magical abilities and family name, even so far as to use genetic profiling to seek and train the best magic users in all of Prismatia. The Everstar also value their lavish and luxurious lifestyles, making pomp and circumstance a core tenet of daily life.
The Everstar economy is dominated by the nobility through their complex and arcane feudal system. However, the nobility have a tradition of keeping wealth flowing through the economy to ensure a luxurious lifestyle for everyone, even for commoners. While precision machines and powerful magic form the bedrock of the economy, the Everstar are also heavily associated with fine arts, beautiful music, elaborate fashion, ornate architecture, and many forms of entertainment. They hold epic expositions and parties around the world to promote their bespoke creations and lifestyles, however expect to pay exorbitant prices.
The Everstar specialize in high-precision machinery, optics, and light magic. Unlike the Sapphi, Everstar technology is built to be extremely reliable, safe, and efficient, but unfortunately requires careful maintenance, complex assembly, trained specialists, and expensive components. Their machines heavily utilize Starglass to manipulate the optical properties of light magic and are horrendously expensive, keeping it out of all but noble hands. However, the Everstar do utilize pneumatics and mechanical escapement whenever the power of Starglass is completely unnecessary. Overall though, the Everstar only utilizes technology when magic alone cannot be used or needs to be augmented.
The Everstar faction is officially known as the Duchy of Everstar, taking its name from the dynasty that has ruled it for 3000 years. In that time, the Duchy has assumed a role that would normally be fulfilled by a Kingdom, however, infighting amongst the nobility, and the submission of the Duchy to the Conclave of Prismatia, has prevented the Duchy from assuming the title. The Duke or Duchess of Everstar rules by absolute authority, but only by rite of the other noble families, who often serve as advisors or bureaucrats to the House of Everstar. Though power is concentrated behind closed doors and kept in check through the delicate interactions between noble families, the nobility are highly educated in the principles of the Everstar, and their rule is very progressive. Laws are passed through a series of decrees, with review, and are clearly communicated to the populace in a timely manner before taking effect.
There are fourteen noble families, commonly known as The Everstar and the Illustrious Thirteen, that dominate the Everstar faction, itself titled as Duchy, from which the nobility derive their legitimacy. The nobility have primarily accumulated their wealth and power through land ownership, trade, and finance coupled to a concoction of diplomacy and power exhibition. Within the realm of the Duchy, the noble families are constantly vying for power, forging webs of treaties and treasons between each other, creating a bureaucratic mess for the ages to spend unraveling. In addition, noble families try to merge in more magically powerful bloodlines, going so far as to even marry commoners, for the sake of keeping that power within the family and maintaining their social status.
The Everstar’s military is primarily designed around espionage and covert operations, as they avoid war at all costs, only using their standing army for defense. Highly skilled mages are recruited directly from Gestirn and are forwarded to secret magic academies for military specializations. When not on active duty, it is common for soldiers and agents to be hired out to the highest bidder as mercenaries for both profit and field training. The Everstar have secured their territory with extensive mountain fortresses and bastions connected by caverns and tunnels, all staffed with the best soldiers they have to offer, supplied with the best equipment money can buy.
Transportation for the Everstar is meant to be a luxurious and social affair to see and to be seen, and therefore they are not focused on speed and efficiency. Their cities are built to be very walkable, pedestrian friendly, and easily accessible to all Kindred. Pneumatic tubes are used extensively for parcel and letter transport, and pneumatic trains move kindred to all corners of the realm. For long distances, the Everstar has a large fleet of airships that can float gently and opulently to anywhere on the globe.
Starglass has been inseparable from Everstar’s history since its founding. In the times before Prismatia, it was used as a metaphysical enhancer by the kindred that would become the Everstar faction, and eventually it was refined and engineered into the perfect conduit for lensing magical abilities. Its modern form is shrouded in secrecy, however, a myth persists that Seracles himself sprinkled stardust onto the mountain ranges of Prismatia to give them a glint and sparkle that could be seen from his place in the heavens.