Centuries ago, the first stain of oblivion devoured the light. The Darkling created the impenetrable mask of night that grew uncontrollably, swallowing entire villages and cities whole. The creatures that festered in its womb were once the human victims of the shadow fold's reach but now they were tortured souls made grotesque and unrecognisable. Ravkan kings sent their soldiers to fight the spread of the disease. Few ever came back. The Unsea grew to devour the edges of Fjerda and Shu Han, forcing Ravka into a gridlock that made travel to and from the kingdom a perilous task. The army dwindled and Ravka was forced to draft its soldiers in order to compensate for those who died.
Testing for Grisha gifts became mandatory for all children between the ages of ten to thirteen as gifts appeared in puberty. They were taken from their homes and forced to endure frightening scenarios that would trigger their gifts, which so often arose in self-defence. Those who showed unique powers were drafted into the army, and for those who did not, many would soon be drafted as well by the time they were sixteen, which was the youngest age at which soldiers were sent to the Shadow Fold.
Sankta Alina, the Sun Summoner, was the one to scorch away the Unsea at the cost of her life. Yet before her arrival, none knew of the Darkling's involvement in the Unsea and he was in fact the commander of the Second Army, comprised entirely of Grisha. When the Sun Summoner abandoned the palace, many of the Grisha stayed behind with the Darkling. In the final battle of the Unsea, many Grisha turned against one another and countless lives were lost.
King Nikolai, who had helped the Sun Summoner in her quest to free Ravka, was accepting of Grisha. He united the First and Second Armies and allowed those conscripted by the crown to return home. Crippled by centuries of loss and poor government, and occupied by the reconstruction of places destroyed by the shadow fold, Ravka was weak. King Nikolai refused to enable the Grisha's servitude and the army dwindled when many returned to their homes. Reparations were slow but steady.
The Ravkan army is presently comprised of 5000 non-Grisha and 500 Grisha. The following list is presented in order of authority.
1. First General and Supreme Commander ~ Kir Egorov
2. Lieutenant General and Second Commander ~ Katya Volkov
3. Colonel and Commander ~ There are 5 colonels, each responsible for their own division of the army.
4. Sergeant ~ They lead small parties from their division and together, answer to their respective commanders.
5. Soldiers
Others ~ These include healers, Materialki soldiers who construct the weapons and poisons used by the army, trackers who hunt objects and individuals that are otherwise impossible to find, and cartographers responsible for mapping and studying the landscape.
Many Ravkans worship saints like Sankta Alina, whom some suspect were not blessed souls who cast miracles but powerful Grisha. There is Sankt Petyr and Vladimir, and Sankta Alina, Marya, Lizabeta and Anastasia. People have been known to sell fragments of bone they claim to be body parts of the saints, which is said to bring luck and protection.
Suli are nomadic people from the northwestern part of Ravka. They are mostly carnival performers and fortune-tellers, the latter whom wear orange silk cloaks and wear red jackal masks, and tell fortunes by reading coffee dregs. Suli are scarce in the Ravkan Army as their nomadic lifestyle makes them very difficult to track, although some have been known to join of their own free will. They are scarcer still outside of Ravka as they never venture too far from their tribe. Their young women are sometimes captured by slavers to be sold to pleasure houses, where their brown skin and occasionally pale, kaleidoscopic eyes are considered a rarity. Most notably, they can be found in the Menagerie or the House of Exotics, an expensive brothel located in the heart of Ketterdam, Kerch, where they are called
lynxes.
