Arcadia, Capital of the Eternal Empire

Halflings, goblins, minotaurs, orc mercenaries, and slaves of various races.

The central authority in the city is the Civil Council which is populated by the following members: 1. The Emperor himself, styled as The First Among Equals, in regards to the general citizenry of the city. 2. The Chief Forman of the Factories and Mills. 3. The Slavedriver General, leader of the local slaver clans who keep the lower end labor dealt with my plentiful slave labor. 4. The Speaker of the Mint, a representative of the banking industry. 5. The Mayor, a locally elected representative of imperial citizens within the city.   This council of five debates policy on how the city is to be run (however the Emperor has the final say on the passage of policy). The ruling council of Arcadia also serves as the Emperor's second major advisory body, after the Senate.   The Imperial Senate resides within the city bus does not govern it, the Senate's budget for the costs of operation are covered by the City's budget. The Senate, however, has no input on the city's budget that is solely dictated by the Emperor himself as the city is his personal fiefdom, officially under his direct rulership.   The Imperial Polibureau maintains an office in the city, the same as every other major city in the Empire, and serves to ensure that the citizens of the Empire fall into line with the political ideology of the Emperor's present edicts, and maintain the security Geas when necessary by order of the Emperor.

The city's greatest natural defense is The Great Salt Lake which goes out for roughly 55 miles in all directions allowing the cities defensive garrisons ample time to mobilize against any oncoming threats. The city at its peak was manned by no less than 10 imperial legions numbering a total of between 9-10 thousand soldiers bolstered by the presence of clockwork dragons and minotaur mercenaries. Beneath the city street is also an extensive system of underground facilities and defensive settlements known as The Imperial Underground which would allow many of the citizens to retreat bellow ground during extensive fighting. The Imperial Underground, however, would be compromised during The Great Grudge War by a military experiment gone wrong that flooded most of the tunnels with water from The Great Salt Lake.

The main industries and trades in Arcadia aside from the great game of political machinations is dominated heavily by industrial workers in the factories and mills that process salt and heavy minerals mined from deep beneath the island and areas around The Great Salt Lake. Beyond this, there is a plentiful hospitality industry to cater to tourists and visiting government functionaries from across the world seeking business with the Emperor.

Extensive urban sprawl with roads capable of sustaining large swaths of foot traffic and carriages. Four rail lines that sustained constant travel to and from the mainland coupled with the ferry system. Hundreds of factories built on floating barges moored to the islands former beaches. And an extensive underground tunnel system used for storage of military labs, civilian homes, and supply caches in the event of a prolonged siege or extensive military deployment.

Between 7-10 fully manned Imperial Legions. Fifteen flights of clockwork dragons running aerial defense sweeps. The central headquarters of The Imperial Polibureau   The Emperor's Personal Legion The Emperor's Frumentari   Extensive food stores estimated to last up to 9 months without intervention from the mainland in the event of extended isolation.   Defensive mana shields to combat aerial or arcane bombardment.   Central Geas authority to combat civil unrest.

The Union of Foundry Workers: a social activist group sponsored by the workers within the hundreds of factories within Arcadia who seek to create better working conditions and strive for higher pay.   The Slaver's Cabal: a ruling council of emissaries from every major slaving clan who meet within the city to distribute slaving rights to each clan when new lands are discovered. The Cabal also serves as a place from which clans can debate disputes over slaving rights, and slave practices. The freedom of slaves is purchased from the Cabal and is always worth twice the selling price the slave was bought for( in addition to an estimation of the costs incurred by the master during their ownership of the slave, this can include anything from food eaten by the slave to tools broken during the slaves service).   The Senate: the main advisory body to the Emperor. Most senators maintain a residence in Arcadia and campaign within its boundaries often to ensure that one of the most populous places in the Empire supports them as referendums can be brought forward at any time to remove them from office if the Emperor himself or the people believe them to not be effectively doing their job. This tremendous amount of turn over leads to an overall weak Senate, which is how the Emperor likes it.

After the Unification Movement during the 6th Age of Strife Arcadia was built upon an island of mostly unused land, save for a few farming hamlets, as no single Halfling Moot( the Halfling term for Kingdom) had any legitimate claim on. Emperor Adrian Von Mussen created Arcadia to be a neutral place from which representatives of each of the petty kingdoms could come together and advise him on troubles they were facing and how best to ensure the safety of their people in a turbulent world.   In the ages since Emperor Adrian, the Senate formed in Arcadia has often counseled expansion to the Emperor and the people have rallied behind the causes of expansionism. New Moots have been created out of new lands conquered from what, at the time, were called the "lesser races". Peoples like the Hill Dwarves, Serpentine, Gnolls, and Merfolk were conquered and quickly brought under the boot of halfling slavery. Races like Goblins, Dark Elves, and Minotaurs were brought into the fold as "honorary equals" as they served utilitarian purposes to the ambitions of the Empire. Goblins made good slave drivers and trainers, Dark Elves had made themselves an integral part of the international slave trade, and Minotaurs were some of the best fighting mercenaries in the world, as such they were often in the employ to bolster the ranks of Halfling Legions.   In the aftermath of five ages of conquest for the Empire, Arcadia stood as a bastion of imperial glory, especially after Emperor Rudolph Von Mussen was anointed Hegemon of Semita, the de facto ruler of the world, in the aftermath of the Third Corpse War making Arcadia likewise the de facto capital of the world.   In the aftermath of The Great Grudge War Arcadia, however, was left a smoldering ruin. The old Senate Halls now serve as lecture halls for a university-funded by The League of Sovereigns and much of the former city has been turned into that university's campus allowing for cheap and plentiful student housing as well as housing for staff and instructors. Land not appropriated for the university was given over to some of the first slaves liberated from halfling rule as a badge of honor for their service during the initial slave rebellions when The Great Grudge War started, long before anyone could believe the Empire would lose.

The architectural style of most of Arcadia is modeled after the ancient Etruscus Empire from before The Sundering making much of Arcadia's architecture indistinguishable from the architecture found to the west in the Kingdom of Etruscia. This school of architecture is called the Roma School, named after the mythical paradise that the first Etruscian Emperor's claimed to want to create on Semita. The school is dominated by great marble buildings with gold trims and monolith columns that dominate the front visage of buildings, alongside grand public pavilions, towering coliseums, and palatial villas.

A heavily urbanized island within the general center of a salt lake. Freshwater is available through trade with the mainland along with a single aquiver once maintained by a circle of druids directly in service to the Emperor himself. Other food stuffs and supplies are brought from the mainland as historically the city is meant to be "dependent" on the land that it rules over, not the other way around. It was said by Emperor Adrian Von Mussen that if the government from Arcadia should ever act counter to the needs of the people than "the government of Arcadia will starve all the same as the people beyond the lake. Our fates are tied with theirs, one and the same."

Salt and heavy minerals from factories as well as processed metal from mineral deposits and local mills.