The Goldhelms call themselves the Solari. They split from the Folkwynd after the Crimson Convergence and settled the northeastern peninsula of Criozevan, where they founded the Goldhelm Kingdom. It is ruled from the Gilded Cradle, the royal castle in the capital, Ovodon, and its second city, Ibeson, is the scientific capital of the continent. Goldhelms stand over six feet, taller than most Folkwynd, live about 100 years, and have golden eyes, ivory-blond hair, and fair skin.
The Goldhelms are staunchly anti-magic, and practicing magic in their kingdom is punishable by public execution. In its place they use holotech, technology that mimics magic. The Goldhelms research, develop, and test holotech themselves, while the Republic of Frada manufactures it. They tried to keep it within their reach, but it spread across the continent, and many peoples and kingdoms now use it. Publicly, the magic ban and holotech are credited to Goldhelm superiority and the rejection of primitive practices. [SPOILER: In truth, the founding royal family carried the Devourer ability, a rare hereditary power that passively drains magic from nearby magic users. After their power killed magic users they loved, the surrounding Folkwynd came to fear and hunt them, and they fled in shame to the peninsula. They banned magic so no one in their kingdom could be drained, and developed holotech so no one would ever need magic at all. Over a thousand years the shame was buried and turned into an ideology of supremacy. The true history is sealed in the royal archive, and neither the public nor King Aldric knows it. Princess Seraphina is the first member of the royal line in centuries to carry the full power.]
Their culture prizes order, perfection, and advancement. Their holidays include Holo-tech Day, which celebrates the invention of holotech, and Founding Day, which marks the founding of the kingdom in Ovodon. Society is a strict caste system of four ranks. Citizens have limited rights and no freedom of speech, and must hold a job from age 18. Officers have slightly more rights and more power to change things; a Citizen can become an Officer only if the king allows it, usually after discovering new holotech or doing something for the good of the nation. Ascendants are hereditary branches of the royal family. They are very rich, hold many rights, and can own many businesses. Architects are the king’s advisors. He chooses them, they serve for life, and they are free to do almost anything as long as they do not anger the king. Their religion, the Path of Radiant Order, rejects any belief in rebirth, and its priesthood enforces the national ideal of order, perfection, and advancement.
In war the Goldhelms fight in tightly coordinated formations of holotech units arranged across tactical grids. Their army is organized into five divisions: Brutes, heavy frontline fighters with holotech war axes, layered holo-armor, and holo-shields; Archers, ranged units with holotech bows and light armor; Swordsmen, the standard infantry; Spearmen, anti-cavalry and defensive troops with holotech spears and shields; and Medics, healers who use holotech support systems. They also use the waters around their kingdom as natural defenses.
The Goldhelms regard all other peoples as inferior and keep away from outsiders. Their one exception is the Republic of Frada. King Aurilde, father of the current king Aldric, got along well with Frada’s command council and made trade deals with them, and he later used holotech from Frada to build Fort Gildmark during his attempt to expand into Darkmane land. That expansion ended in 923 ACC with the Fort Gildmark Slaughter, when the Darkmane Elves killed all 900 people at the fort. The Goldhelms hold an ancient rivalry with the Darkmane Elves, rooted in living close together and in very different cultures and beliefs. Fights still break out along their river border, where the Goldhelms built huge forts after the slaughter. They are also hostile toward the Ipadoras: the Goldhelms distrust outsiders, and their peninsula is surrounded by the sea the Ipadoras control.
They speak Solaran, a restricted language with a modular script that is taught only to Goldhelms and also used by holotech engineers, and they speak Common as a second language. Notable Goldhelms include King Aldric; his daughter and heir, Princess Seraphina; Sir Elric, a warrior and tactician who fights with holotech weapons; Lady Isolde, one of the kingdom’s most accomplished holotech specialists; and King Aurilde.
The kingdom is stable but militarizing, building up its power to “protect” itself. It faces two main threats. The first is internal rebellion, an echo of the Great War (795–800 ACC), when the kingdom’s southern territories revolted against the North for autonomy, along with growing tensions over corruption. The second is Arashi espionage: the criminal organization is after stronger weapons for unknown purposes. Kaboom, now #9 of the Arashi, was created by the Goldhelm government in Ibeson as a weapon before he escaped.