The known history of Asequhra begins with the arrival of the San Quhr in the hidden mountain valleys of the Great Range, thousands of years before the rise of Greater Kauln. The San Quhr were a nomadic people from the western uplands, forced out of their ancestral lands by drought and famine. They found refuge and plenty in the lush valleys, but also conflict, as they clashed with the mountain tribesfolk who had settled those valleys centuries earlier. In time, the fierce San Quhr killed, enslaved or drove away most of the tribes, and established a patchwork of petty kingdoms spanning five hundred miles of the Great Range. Gradually, through trade, conquest and the spread of a common religion, the region was unified into a theocratic kingdom that came to be known as Blessed Asequhra.

The religion that has characterised Asequhra for millennia is the Faith of Fathers, which venerates a pantheon of creator gods ruled by a supreme Father-to-All. The kingdom’s major cities are all centred around elaborate temple complexes, and the state and priesthood are effectively one and the same. Asequhra’s priest-kings rule as a triumvirate from Kursalian, the national capital and holiest city, overseeing a semi-feudal society where a small circle of nobles and clerics hold much of the country in demesne. Temple wardens serve as both civil peacekeepers and widely-feared morality police. The lives of the common Quhrai are dominated by prayer, pilgrimage and the making of offerings. A number of localised variants of the Faith of Fathers are tolerated in Asequhra, though any serious deviation from the traditional rites is punished harshly. Other religions, including numerous forms of animism and ancestor worship, are secretly practiced in the most remote regions.

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It is generally believed that Aede’s dominant Sacramental Faith originated as a monotheistic offshoot of the Faith of Fathers, and indeed the two religions share many similarities in ritual and scripture. However, the modern Sacramental Faith considers the Faith of Fathers to be heretical, while the Quhrai in turn see the Sacramental Faith as a barbaric perversion of their beliefs. Seeking to preserve the purity of their culture as larger empires expanded around them, the Quhrai priest-kings maintained their isolation from the other nations of Aede for centuries, heavily restricting trade and travel, though small numbers of Quhrai settled in Greater Kauln and Esuloa nonetheless. The Quhrai diaspora was almost entirely exterminated by the Salvator regime during the Apostate’s War, though Asequhra itself was largely unaffected due to its great distance from the frontlines.

In the aftermath of the war, the Kauln granted Asequhra a small measure of independence, as the poor and remote mountain kingdom was not deemed worth conquering by force. In return for promises of allegiance and grants of land for use as airbases and monitoring stations, the priest-kings have been allowed to continue practicing their religion and governing their people. The Quhrai doubtless resent their vassalage, but their obedience to their holy triarchs – and fear of Kauln retribution – has kept them from offering any serious resistance.