Helloooo I miss your Captive Prince posting! I was wondering if you have a take on Vask and Patras? Like aesthetics and stuff. Hope you're well! 🧡
Oh I love this ask, thank you 🧡
Vask is described in the books as a mountain empire, almost a “sleeping” one, and everything we’re told supports a sense of harsh, self-sufficient power. Canon-wise, their aesthetic is very physical and practical: leather riding gear, heavy fur cloaks, long low-roofed buildings built for cold and wind. Their diet (wild meat, fish, roots) and their drink, hakesh (milky-white and burning like fire) all point to a culture built around endurance rather than comfort.
Vask is a matriarchy, so the clans are ruled by women, and the traditional warriors are women who ride mountain ponies capable of navigating terrain no one else can. At the top is an all-female imperial court, with the Vaskian Empress surrounded by rumor and fear, including the infamous story about men being torn apart by leopards. Whether that’s propaganda or truth, the important thing is that it’s believed, which tells us how Vask is seen by its neighbors.
In terms of historical parallels (which Pacat enjoys playing with), Vask feels reminiscent of Amazonian myth filtered through steppe and mountain cultures: Scythian or Mongol in horsemanship and mobility, but with the gendered power structures inverted. Ideologically, it’s incompatible with the patriarchal norms of Vere and Akielos, which is why it sits apart as something largely uninterested in their conflict.
Patras is less fully described, but the details we do get are telling. It shares southern trade routes with Vere, has a recognizable accent, and produces soldiers and nobles, like Torveld, who are polished, disciplined, and respected by other courts. Patras openly practices slavery, but culturally it’s distinct from both Akielos and Vere.
Where Akielos leans on Classical Antiquity (bare skin, sandals, chitons, laurels) Patras appears at Hellay in livery, with glinting weapons. The emphasis on livery (uniformed colors and insignia) shows a professional, organized military culture and distinguishes them from the Akielon "bare skin" aesthetic. It aligns Patras less with the ancient world and more with later, centralized systems of warfare.
Overall, Patras comes across as a serious military, economic, and diplomatic power in the books. The arrival of Patran troops at Hellay is enough to shift the balance of power, making Patras a decisive third force rather than just a background player. Like historical buffer states caught between two rival powers, Patras functions as a hybrid. It is southern in tradition, keeping ancient institutions like slavery, but slightly more Veretian in practice, prioritizing trade, diplomacy, and royal bargains over ideology or warrior codes. Its interventions (like sending troops to Hellay) are negotiated, conditional, and tied to personal stakes and contracts rather than loyalty or shared values. Control of access to Patras is a major strategic concern for Laurent, and its intervention at Hellay is the moment that forces the border lords to reconsider their loyalty to the Regent.
Compared to the detailed Classical worldbuilding of Akielos or the Ancien Régime–inspired political culture of Vere, Patras is much less specific. It’s defined mostly by its role in the geopolitics of the story. If we try to draw historical parallels, Patras might fit the pattern of strategically positioned buffer states like the client kingdoms of the Byzantine-Persian frontier (like the Ghassanids or Lakhmids). Similar examples include the Kingdom of Armenia, which had to navigate the shifting ambitions of Rome and Persia; the Duchy of Savoy, balancing France and the Holy Roman Empire; and the city-states of the Dalmatian coast, which relied on commerce and alliances to maintain autonomy amid larger powers.
