“The Lycaonese are a grim people though not without a dark sort of humour, as became evident when I was first told what a ‘northern burial’ is. The inhabitants of these parts do not bury their dead, for fear of the Kingdom of the Dead, instead burning their own and spreading the ashes on consecrated ground. What the locals refer to as one of their burials is, in truth, someone being eaten by ratlings from the Chain of Hunger.”
– Extract from “Horrors and Wonders”, famed travelogue of Anabas the Ashuran
The Lycaonese are one of the three dominant culture groups living in the Principate of Procer. They are the smallest of the three by population and only consist of four principalities of the 23 in Procer. They live in the northernmost part of Procer and form the frontier to the Chain of Hunger. They also have a frontier to the Kingdom of the Dead.
Principalities[]
Their four Principalities are:
Rhenia: Northernmost principality, bordering the Chain of Hunger. Ruled by Prince Cordelia Hasenbach (Book 1 - present)
Hannoven: Borders both the Chain of Hunger and Kingdom of the Dead. Ruled by Prince Klaus 'Iron Prince' Papenheim (Book 1 - present)
Bremen: Connected to Hannoven and Rhenia by the Twilight's Pass and the Rhenian Gates respectively. Ruled by Prince Manfred Reitzenberg (Book 1 - 5), Prince Gude Reitzenberg (Book 5), Prince Elsa Reitzenberg (Book 5) and Prince Otto 'Redcrown' Reitzenburg (Book 5 - present)
Neustria: Southernmost Lycaonese principality. Ruled by Princess Mathilda 'Greensteel' (Book 1 - present)
Culture[]
They speak Reitz.
They were conquered by Procer more than 600 years before the events of the story by First Princess Frederonne Merovins, who sealed her conquest by marrying the Prince of Hannoven. They seem to be well integrated, though somewhat contemptuous of southerners.
The Lycaonese are probably the cultural successors of the "People of the Wolf" who attacked the kingdom of Sephirah and were integral to the rise of the Dead King.
Before they were conquered by Procer, they were ruled by the Iron Kings. The first of the Iron Kings was Alrich Fenne, who united the seven Lycaonese kingdoms by killing all of the other kings to stand against the ratling hordes.
Meta[]
They seem heavily inspired by real world Germany. Bremen and Hannover being two large cities in northern Germany, while Neustria was the Frankish/German name for northwestern France in the 6. to 8. century. Rhenia might be a reference to the river Rhine or the surrounding Rhineland.
The same is true for their names, with Hasenbach meaning rabbit creek in german and names like Klaus, Friedrich or Papenheim almost exclusively originating from culturally german regions.