Westerstrum Empire

The empire is rules by a small council of 10 members. 9 of these are the current heads of the noble families who claim to have been responsible for the empires birth, and the 10th is a member of the ruling Harken family to ensure good relations between the two nations.

while the council has complete control of the law and the military, the actual day to day governance is carried out by various land owning noble families. For example it is the responsibility of the family who owns a city district to fund its police, should the district begin to fall beneath the standards set by the council, the ruling family may be removed and their proprietorship passed to someone with the money to purchase the land and desire to fill the obligation.

Westerstrum is a highly developed nation with its people having come to believe themselves as superior to the rest of Arginthorn's inhabitants. They justify this belief via their military history believing that if they were wrong surely they would have been stopped or defeated by now. The noble families are mostly viewed positively as patrons of the nation, at least when their duties are fulfilled, in times of neglect the people quickly devolve to angry riots encouraging the council to act quickly to restore public opinion. After many years of order being kept this way the people have a high degree of faith in their structure.

The people believe the Oakenbust Clans to be a barbarous people whose presence threatens their well being and therefore fully support the empires military actions, this faith is aided by a lack of confirmable information given to the public.

The empire seeks to unify all of Arginthorn into one body, claiming this is in the best interests of all in the land. Their efforts have stalled as they have been unable to completely remove the Oakenbust Clans, making it an undesirable idea to commit the resources required to travers the mountains separating them and the Frostfall order, while at the same time keeping peace within the empire itself.

Shortly after the fracturing, settlers found their way to Arginthorn, which was originally fully occupied by the Oakenbust Clans. Viewed as invaders, the settlers were attacked relentlessly making it almost impossible to set up any permanent settlements. This changed with the simultanious arival of 13 noble families and their followers after being exiled from Heldan following an unsuccessful coup. 9 of these families landed near the southern cape near Warmhurst, and the other 4 traveled farther north to Harkenfort.

With the resources brought with them, defensive strong holds were set up which allowed them to defend against Oakenbust attacks. From here the nobles quickly organized the people into proper military regimes and managed to begin occupying land that the clans had left undeveloped for centuries. As territorial control grew, so to did the population and resources, leading to a stronger and stronger military, until in 98 CT the city of Westerstum was founded in newly controlled territory. The 9 original noble families formed a council from the heads of each family, and invited a representative of the leading Harken family as a sign of good will to officially create their empire.

The empire is home to about 85 million people, mostly humans however there are some dwarfs, elves, and gnomes who call the empire home in large enough numbers to not be unusual, other races are scarce and their presence can lead some to concern.

The populace is primarily concentrated into the 5 cities of Sleekdale, Bridgestead, Pincerglen, Warmhurst and Westerstrum. With there being an additional 127 officially recognized towns spread throughout the territory (see towns of the Westerstrum Empire).

The empire's military is a heavy focus of the council. All men at age 16 are enlisted until the age of 24, with honors and compensation for those who stay longer. Soldiers receive the highest education of battle and training that the empire is capable of, both on land and at sea. The basic troop is trained with the sword, the spear, and the bow and makes up a large portion of the foot soldiers. The army also supports a moderate cavalry force and equips its higher ranking soldiers with crossbows. Every man is given plate armor and a shield. While there is a substantial number of men employed into the army, in practice the empire relies heavily on war machines which every soldier is trained to operate fully.

Many religious bodies can be found within the empire. While the council promotes worship of Maros, god of the forge, and Zazoph the lord of war, these are not state religions as the empire allows freedom of worship.

The empire has mostly neutral relations with most nations it interacts with. Due to its large military, neighboring nations prefer not to act with hostility, and the empire itself is too focused on its ongoing conflicts with the Oakenbust Clans to start new conflicts with others, even those they disapprove of such as the Saphire Syndicate. Given the nature of the empires birth, and its active military presence it is not viewed in high regard by many other then the Harken Trading Federation who they protect and trade with.

The empire, while having access to much farmland, is primarily industrial to fuel its war campaigns. farmable land is used primarily for grain and common farm animals to keep the populace and soldiers fed. There is a strong metal and lumber industry, with the entire process from harvest and mining to manufacturing of weapons and equipment being controlled by the various noble families. Many of the factories and workplaces however, are owned by Harken citizens who pay heavy taxes to the Westerstrum nobles to be able to control the trade pricing. Every factory has a mandated minimum quantity that must be sold to the empire before it can be freely sold to the Harken federation.

The Harken Trading Federation is the exclusive trade partner of the empire. This is done primarily so the empire can focus on other matters, and frequently Westerstrum citizens will execute trade deals with other nations, the empire itself takes no action and the only risk is being caught by the federation who wish to protect their exclusivity. The empire sells its goods to the federation, who trade with most anyone they can secure deals with, and purchase international imports through them. The protection agreement keeps the prices in check as the federation has no official military and relies completely on the empire for defense.

Materials can be moved quickly through the empire thanks to a well maintained network of roads, and when need be the southern naval town of Reewold (see towns of the Westerstrum Empire) can quickly get goods onto a ship and out to see. Most goods will find their way north east to Pincerglen before being exported to the Harken Trading Federation.