"To be Kiranese is to know your ancestors, your ancestral homelands, and your history. We are fortunate to have most of our history intact at our fingertips; For others, it is tragically not so."
- Xao Bei the Elder, Kiranese Philosopher
Kiran spans the lands south of the Heartlands, known to many foreigners as a land of the mysterious and exotic to which it is given a hundred different descriptions in which every contains only a fraction of it's greater whole. It is home to the greatest breadth of cultural diversity in the known world, presumed to have been the corner of Aranor least affected by the Curse of Falandine in addition to the cataclysmic events that preceded it. While it's people had awakened lost and confused like all of Aranor in the Age of Fear, the records of it's own history and former identity had survived nearly unscathed, but the unified empire it had once been would not endure the disorienting transition. It's people are spread out across a vast stretch of land that ranges from arid to humid, low to high altitudes, and from desert to wide forests, it is similarly broken split into several races and their own, wildly distinct identities that were reclaimed or reignited in the following years.
It was not until the year 901 A.F.C. (or the Year of the Long Shadow 3011 by the Kiranese calendar) that Hyoson the Herald, a since-deified warrior, diplomat, and poet reunified Kiran with the restoration of it's legendary capital city Tian Zhe. After existing only as myth for centuries it was rediscovered atop the peak of the mountain Yuhn, stretching from the cliffs onto a foundation of solidified clouds, above which the palace of Kiran's silent emperor loomed high. While all attempts to breach the palace failed and were eventually declared taboo, it is believed it's now nameless, immortal ruler remains in spirit and with this legend at his back, his sword, and his wit, Hyoson united reformed the Empire of Kiran as it's first herald, an honorific title granted to a handful of figures in it's recent history for being blessed with the wisdom and guidance of the emperor.
While Kiran was nominally unified, and this spirit of purpose would linger for some time, the disparate provinces of Kiran had been apart long enough to become too independent and suspicious of another to easily be categorized as one, single people. Only the distant, light hand of Tian Zhe exists to retain the reins of it's provinces pulling in many directions, the mighty engine of bureaucracy faced with the unenviable task of keeping the peace within and repelling foreign invasion from beyond it's own borders. In spite of this newfound unity Kiran has only ever been able to secure temporary victories against their hated enemies the pale orcs of Gurutan and Tian Zhe has been unable to coerce only token forces to respond against the invasion of Azravesh against it's northern border out of the Heartlands. Even with the notion of a unified land reignited, that is to consider oneself part of Kiran, it's peoples are a long way from forgetting past grudges and differences.